


1 


lliwli^l 








E353 



.E4E4 




DDDDb5137TD 



>^' VW\-' ^/^^>' \W\.'^ ' 

"^•^;i>- /^:^^%\ .^'^•^a;>- /*;r^ 







.^ *: 



• rfSS^k^*^ V? 










































^^ * • - o • .A^ O. ♦" • ' ^ • A* 






DEFENCIi; 

OF 

COmiODORE JESSE DUNCAN EJJJOTT, 

OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY, 

READ BY THE 

M®Ko ©EOo MEFIFILII]^ 10) AIL]L AS, 
\ 

BEFORE THE NAVAL COURT MARTIAL AT PHILADELPHIA, 

JUNE 20, 1840. 
WITH LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS EXPLANATORY OF PORTIONS OF THE DEFENCE. 



DiEFENCE 

OF 

COMMODOllE ELLIOTT. 



The trial of this ofliccr on numerous charges and specifications, commenced 
heforc ihe Naval Court Martial, at the Navy Yard, in the County of Philadel- 
phia, on the mil of May, 1S40, and continued from day to day until the 20tli 
of June foliowinii;. The Court was composed of nine naval Captains: — Captain 
JACOJi JUNES, President, Captain Lewis Warrington, Captain John 
IJowNs, Captain Edmund P. Kennedy, Captain Charles AV. Morgan, 
Captain F. C. Parker, Captain David Conner, Captain John D. Sloat, and 
Captain George VV. Stoker — John M. Read, Esq. acted as Judge Advo- 
cate. 

The evidence having closed on the loth instant, four days were allowed for 
Ihc preparation of the defence, which was handed in on tlie liOlh inst., at 11^ 
o'clocic in the morning, hy Commodore Elliott, and read hy the Hon. Geo. 
Mifflin Dallas, his Counsel, as follows: — 



Mr. President, 

AND GeNTI.KMKX ok THE CoURT, 

After an arduous career of six and thirty 
years in the Navy of the United States, my only 
desire, under the circumstances which now sur- 
round Mie, is to avoid saying a single won!, or 
doing the slightest act, that might be injurious 
to any branch of that service, or derogatory to 
the rank I hold in it. The few plausible impu- 
tations before you, which have been carefully 
distilled from the incidents of my last command, 
and which it is thought may derive from com- 
bination an importance they could not enjoy 
separately, are not of a nature to alarm my 
sense of honor, or to awaken any fear that my 
wjjole life has been spent in vain. Come wiiat 
may on the present occasion, the distinguished 
fellow officers who compose this ('curt, shall 
figd me acquiescing, with entire candor and 
confidence, in the conclusions of tlijir dispas- 
sionate judgments. 1 have yet strength and 
Keal to devote to our cherished country, but I 
am also old enough to be (juite sure, that the 
past, with whatever of usefulness and reputa- 
tion may have attached to it, is hoarded safe 
beyond liie reach ;l' calurar.j cr^-'^.H, v.hlle :l.c 



future, be its pains and solicitudes what they 
may, must be brief. 

In sober truth, gentlemen, the pursuit to 
whicii 1 have been sul)jected, is, in its origin 
and character, and as a precedent, far more dan- 
gerous to the noble arm of national defence and 
glory to which we are attached, than it can be 
hurtful to myself individually. Permit me, 
with unfeigned deference, to explain my mean- 
ing. I have no desire to complain of persecu- 
tion, to woo your sympathies by pointing out 
the peculiar diniciil ties of niy position, nor to 
inveigh against the proscriptions of political 
party or the reckless assaults of the press; these 
are topics which might misleed or be miscon- 
strued: — but I do desire to urge upon your at- 
tention certain general and glaring features of 
tills prosecution; — to awaken you, as legitimate 
guardians of the highest interests of the Amer- 
ican Navy to their inevitable results, and to in- 
voke your most strenuous and unwavering ef- 
forts to defeat them. Were it the last act of my 
life, I should, dying, rejoice in having been in- 
strumental, through the finding of this tribunal 
in rescuing our gallant corps from the perilous 

:i.».aCl»»£l3 to W.iiC/i 1 ad/clt. 



The experience of those who hear me must 
have satisfied them that nothing is practically 
more difficult than to reconcile the incontesti- 
ble rights of free citizens, and the courtesies of 
polished deportment, with the hourly exigen- 
cies of military discipline and subordination. — 
They whose duty it is to order, cannot always 
pause to measure their words, and adapt them 
to the precise privileges or pretensions of those 
whose duty it is to obey. A thousand uncon- 
trollable causes intervene to prevent them 

This may be regretted, but cannot be remedied. 
Nevertheless discipline and subordination must 
be maintained: their purposes are too vital and 
paramount to be abandoned; their operations 
cannot, without the most pernicious consequen- 
ces, be arrested by frivolity, or relaxed by fa- 
voritism. Once waive their necessity; — sanc- 
tion the idea that regulations are cobwebs to be 
broken through at pleasure, that rank is enti- 
tled to no deference, that commands may be 
disputed or denied, that the superior officer 
should silently submit to having his admoni- 
tions '■'■repelled''' by flat contradiction, and be 
content with the '■'forbearance''' that leaves him 
personally unassailed; — that the settled grada 
tions of authority, with their designated chan- 
nels of communication are idle formalities; and 
what will become of the naval system, of whose 
fruits the American people have heretofore been 
sojustly proud? — what will become of the best 
bulwark which free institutions can organize 
against foreign aggression. 

I do not at this moment, propose an elaborate 
application of these principles tothe cases before 
you; — a fitter occasion as to each will present 
itself hereafter: — but I venture to assert that no 
reflecting man can have followed the develop- 
ments of this trial, and have marked with dis- 
crimination its sources, without a deep convic- 
tion that almost every one of the various char- 
ges and specifications, find their real roots in a 
restless intolerance of discipline — in that pru- 
rient and preverse spirit which seeks distinc- 
tion by defying subordination — in thatflilse am- 
bition which hopes to attain eminence by resis- 
ting and humbling established authority. Else 
wherefore is it that I am here for having repres- 
sed a personal altercation between two of the 
officers under my command on the arena of a 
thronged|race-course'? Else, wherefore is it that 
1 am here for having inflexibly refused to con- 
sider the result of a flagrant violation of law, 
civil, military, and divine, as entitled to official 
indulgence and indirect sanction? Else where- 
fore am I here, for having transferred a chap- 
lain trom a frigate to a schooner, confiding his 
safety t© the same winds, waves, and boat, to 



which I entrusted distinguished officers ancJ 
excellent seamenl Else, wherefore am I here 
for having, unalarmed, forborne to shoot down 
as mutineers, scores of as brave and faithful 
tars as ever carried their country's flag unsul- 
lied to the close of a protracted cruize, but 
whom the culpable negligence of inferior offi- 
cers had betrayed into the temporary disorders 
of intoxication'? I am here, gentlemen, yes, I 
am here, solely because my sense of duty and 
my experience have had to deal with some who 
can brook no government, suff'er no control, ex- 
cept that which they themselves exercise ? 

Nor is the alarming tendency of this prose- 
cution less obvious in the novelty and incon- 
gruity of its pretended legal foundations. If 
what I may be permitted to characterize as the 
law of several of the charges obtain recognition, 
the officers of the American Navy have uncon- 
sciously become the slaves of a secret, unset- 
tled, and capricious domination. Itisinvain 
that the Constitution of the United States has 
expressly forbidden the making oi ex pod facto 
laws: — it is in vain (in the language of one of 
the best and wisest of our Judges) "the genius, 
the nature, the spirit of our governments, 
amount to a prohibition of such acts of legisla- 
tion;" — it is in vain that the great first princi- 
ples of reason and of the social compact repel 
them, if, at the mere discretion of power, and in 
order to suit the exigencies of private malice, 
actions long deemed innocent are suddenly de- 
nounced as crimes, and penal enactments, made 
elastic for oppression, are stretched and tortur- 
ed beyond their just and natural application. I 
am willing to obey — it is the fundamental les- 
son of military life — but let me know for whom 
and for what my obedience is claimed. 1 am 
old in submission to the laws, usages, and prin- 
ciples of my country: I am yet unborn to the 
vassalage of hidden and entrapping rescripts. 
When I tell the Court, as their careful consid- 
eration of the proofs will verify, that of the 
twenty-two specifications, ranged under the 
third and eighth charges, every one of them de- 
lineates as criminal, that which had before, and 
in countless distinguished instances, been re- 
garded as strictly right or harmless, and what 
no legislative provision, no executive injunc- 
tion, no judicial sentiment or decree had ever 
intervened to proscribe or discourage, may I 
not say that here is a large and fearful stride 
towards an arbitrary and destructive system? 

Nor is this the worst. It would seem as if, 
to attain the ends of this unprecedented proceed- 
ing, certain preconceived and universal rules of 
honor were to be reversed, and that hencefor- 
ward the affection and respect of our fellow- 



men were to be repuJiated as badges of sliame. 
J>o American ofTioers and American soamen 
cease to be American citizens? In assuming 
the profossion of arms, and devotin j their lives, 
to the national def.:'iice and glory, have they 
lost tlie huinhle rjijlil of bein<j beloved, or the 
invaluable privilei^e of manifeslingtheir atiacb- 
meni? W li y is it tiiat ray merely receivin^r a 
testimonial of esteem and gratitude from a nu- 
merous body of men as free and fearless as my- 
self, is represented as scandalous and immoral, 
or unbecoming and unolfic-erlike] That and 
thai only, wiinout a single one of the innumer- 
able qualifying e|>ilheta elsewhere used, is the 
hald imputation of the first specifiiaiion, of the 
third cliarge and of the fourth specification of 
the eighth. What does it mean? Is it design- 
ed to stigmatizG "s/i was.se" th(! seamen who 
navigate our ships and fight our battles, as too 
degraded to be actuated by virtuous and inde- 
pendent motives, or too vulgar to approach 
without polluting their professional chief? I 
enter my solemn protest against so undeserved 
and sweeping adenunciation. I demand for the 
free spirit, the personal courage, the manly in- 
telligence of the crew of theCJonstitution — nay, 
I claim for the great class of mariners in the 
naval service of our country, an exemption 
from this lordly and contemptuous ban. They 
are a hardy, adventurous, and disinterested 
race, early trained to a knowledge of their 
rights, but submissive to the law — <niick to 
resent petty tyranny, but kind and conliding to 
their friends; easily moved to avenge a wrong, 
but generous as bold, and always patriotic. 
Surely the warm-hearted, tribute of such men 
cannot disgrace the loftiest in pretension. Sure- 
ly he whose stern duty it is to exact from them 
constant privation, and unlimited obedience, 
may innocently delight in a gift which attests 
his having, in some measure reconciled the 
character of their commander, with that of 
guardian of their happiness and interests. Is 
it not strange, gentlemen, that according to the 
moral alembic of this prosecution, wo should 
be tauntingly reproached with what constitutes 
our pride! 

It is essential to the purpose of these re- 
marks, that their true bearing should not be 
mistaken. I have no desire to review with 
unnecessary severity the errors of intemperate 
passion, which have from the first and perse- 
veringly marked the conduct of my accusers, 
nor the cool or careless, the designing or delu- 
ded, misjudgments of those by whom these 
accusations have been encouraged and adopted; 
much less do I impute to the organ of govern- 
ment before this Court, who has moulded the 



' materials furnished him into the only structure 
of which they were susceptible, their vague 
and discordant character, liut I insist upoa 
the broad and conservative principles, that 
crimes are not to be fabricated on the spur of 
every discontent, out of acts in themselves un- 
important and indilTerent — that what the emi- 
nent captains who preceded nie have repeated- 
ly done uncensured and unassailed, shall not 
abruptly be proclaimed as guilt in me, and that 
that only shall be specified as crime, subject to 
the jurisdiction of a Court Martial, which ia 
clearly cognizable by some one or other of the 
articles, rules, and regulations of the Navy. 
Let mo more pointedly illustrate the ground 
thus tiikcn. Agreeably to the ."^d article of the 
first section of the Act of Congress of the 'J3d 
of April, 1800, entitled, "An Act for the better 
government of the Xavyofthe I'nited States," 
i admit that an officer may be tried, convicted, 
cashiered, or punished at discretion, upon the 
third charge exhibited here, of ^^Scanda/oua 
eondiict tendhif^ to the destruction of i^uod mot' 
als'^ — but I wholly deny the competency of 
any accuser, private or public, subordinate or 
in authority, to range in maintenance of this 
charge, a seriesof conduct or conversation, ha- 
ving not the remotest imaginable connectioa 
with "/«w«/.s," and to ask, first, that the charge 
shall he esteemed to be sustained by the spe- 
cification, and second, that the specificatioR 
shall take its character from the charge. Were 
such a course permitted, the ordinary inter- 
course of social life, the casual incidents of 
convivial enjoyment, the consultations of con- 
fidential friendship, and every proceeding not 
at once appreciated in every respect by every 
body, would become the basis of trial and con- 
demnation. The law would dilate or contract 
to cover every case presented, and instead of 
being a fixed, limited, and precise rule, would 
vary to accommodate the prejudices, the capri- 
ces, or the tastes of its expounders. What, 
^^scandal and tendency/ to the destruction of 
good morals,^^ can he predicated of my publicly 
accepting a present from my crew? What, 
*^scandal and tendency to the destruction of good 
morals,'^ can be attributed to my embarking 
useful animals on board the Constitution?\Vhat, 
^^scandal and tendency to the destruction of good 
morals,''^ can be ascribed to my openly employ- 
ing men in feeding and otherwise protecting 
these animals? And what, ^'■scandal and ten- 
dency to the destruction of good morals,, can 
be inferred from my having notoriously, and 
by regular requisitions, consumed in the erec- 
tion of stalls for their comfort and safety, cer- 
tain boards, plank, nails, canvass, and junk? 



If these specifications describe matters that are 
really offences, cognizable under some other 
comprehensive provision of law, let them not 
be set forth under this, to which no ingenuiy 
can possibly apply them. If there be no arti- 
cle or regulation to the standard of which they 
can be rallied, would it not be wiser, juster, 
safer, and better, to recognize the truth, and to 
own that they are not offences at alll Let me 
add, without wishing in the slightest degree, to 
restrict the import of the legal phraseology, that 
it is difficult to avoid perceiving, on reading the 
Act of Congress, the exact nature of the irregu- 
larities or indecencies against which its modest 
generality is directed: — '■'■any nj/icer or other 
person in the Navy, who shall he g^iilty 
of oppression, cruelty, fraud, profane swear- 
ing, drunkenness, or any other scandalous con- 
duct tending to the destruction of good morals;''^ 
a momentary glance at the statute of the Bri- 
tish ^)arliament from which this provision was 
drawn, and which is less delicate in ita terms, 
perfectly explains the allusion. 

1 cannot gentlemen, omit ^to remark upon 
another peculiarity oftheinvestigatiou through 
which you have passed, whose inconvenient 
and dangerous consequences I have painfully 
witnessed. It will be recollected that the pre- 
cept issued by the Honorable the Secretary of 
the Navy for the organization of a Court of In- 
quiry, instead of being restricted to the only 
charges which engaged the least attention, and 
as to which it was cheerfully sought, author- 
ized an examination into every incident of my 
life, important or unimportant, during the four 
years of active, anxious, and laborious public 
service, connected with my command in the 
Mediterranean. If there be in the annals of 
naval government, a paralel inquisition re- 
corded, it has escaped my research. Though 
not so designed, it operated instantly as an in- 
vitation to every one on whom the discharge of 
my military duties had borne with any severity 
to come forward and seek his revenge ; to find 
in the lapse of time, in^the confusedly remem- 
bered incidents of distant days, and in the per- 
verted reasoning of moody and long indulged 
mortification or enmity, ample means of assail- 
ing me at unguarded points, and of giving 
plausibility to stories and insinuations which 
no memory, however tenacious, could pretend 
to retain with the fullness and accuracy necess- 
ary to perfect explanation. It placed me at 
once as a target for all the discontented, for all 
■who hated bitterly or felt spitefully, for all 
who thought themselves aggrieved, or were 
ready to believe that others had been so. If 
this be esteemed a just ordeal, the precedent, 



first set in my case, may be useful to the Ameri- 
can Navy: — if it be esteemed otherwise, as on 
my soul I believe it to be as unjust as it was 
new, long may it remain without imitation — 
long, very long may it be before a brother ofii- 
cer, however honorable and innocent, shall be 
forced to undergo it ! What have been its ob- 
vious results "? Looks, words, gestures — nay, 
even tones of voice — things which can scarce- 
ly be remembered from day to day, have mir- 
aculously outlived years, and are reported as 
positively as if of last hour's growth; — the 
setting sun, the rising- wind, the rate of sailing, 
the time of tide, the transfer of provisions at 
any given hour four years ago, have been 
narrated with a hardy confidence than throws 
into shade almanacs and log books: while 
blindness itself could scarcely fail to seethe 
dove-tailing, corroborating, mutually counte- 
nancing and encouraging indications of a grad- 
ually formed, exiensive, and if you please, un- 
conscious combination to destroy. 

It may not be amiss to show briefly a few of 
the singular contradictions and inconsistencies 
into which the prosecuting witnesses were 
thrown by the test of cross-examination — rend- 
ering it manifest how little reliance could be 
placed upon their real recollections. I am not 
anxious to inculcate a harsher conclusion. — 
When, however, it is considered that a correct 
appreciation of the truth or falsehood of many 
of the specifications might, (such is their na- 
ture!) depend upon the insertion or omission, 
at particular emergencies, of a single word or 
qualifying phrase — when a slight circumstance 
remembered, or forgotten, or evaded, might be 
the illuminating index of motive or feeling, it 
cannot fail to inspire great caution and doubt, 
if we detect irreconcileable discrepancies in 
the sources of testimony. Opposite assertions 
cannot both be true, and the witnesses who 
make them, unintentionally but latally disprove 
anil impeach each other. 

Is it not something to shake your confidence 
in the statement of Lieut. Charles G. Hunter, 
that he should at one time vehemently assert 
that I shook the cane oi>er his head — but, at 
another time when the impossibility of my 
having done so by my distance from him ^is 
overwhelmingly proved, that he should vary 
the phraseology to shaking the cane at him ? 

Is it not something to awaken an apprehen- 
sion lest the solemnity of the occasion may not 
be adequately felt or the memory be very fee- 
ble, when the same gentleman on Monday 
morning positively avers that he saw Chaplain 
Lambert on the immediately preceding Sun- 
day evening at the office of the Judge Advo- 



cato, but on Tuesday morningr rocalla liis aver- | 
inHiit, ami has reason to believe llial he niisla- 
leil the fact ? 

Is it not somelhinrr to bewilder the best ex- 
pounders of evidence, wlien Lieut. MclJIair 
represents the Constitution as ffoing into 
Hampton Uoads on the first of the Jluod — 
l,ient. Uullus, at kaf flood — and Sailini^-mas- 
ter Muse at hi^h tidc\ 

Is it not somethincr loenibarrass your choice 
and keep you suspended between the preater 
knowledire of tlie ollieer and the superior sanc- 
tity of the cleriryman, wiien Lieut. Watson 
tells you unhesitalinfrly that the ship in the 
harbor of Suda num hove to, while Chaplain 
lianibert as posiiively tells you she wun null 

Is it notsometliin^ to inspire niisnrivinjr, that 
Passed Midshipman iJarion should declare 
that he had received no orders not to go on 
shore from the Shark, while Lieut. Totten as- 
serts that he in person conimunicated those very 
orders to him? — that the same passed Midship- 
man Barton denied that he was left at Smyrna 
at his ovrn request, when the letter of Dr. 
Uoyd to his father Dr. \Vm. P. ('. Barton, un- 
equivocally states that he was ? — and that the 
same passed Midshipman IJarton should depict 
"/Ac blond as madlij i^ushin;^; throti^h the haiida- 
ij>;a" of his wounded limb, when Dr. Wood- 
worth says that such a phrase is a ^^fgurative 
iTprission,^^ which he does not understand, and 
that the haemorrhaije was sliijlit? 

Is it not something inexplicable, as an oper- 
ation of mere memory, that Purser llambleton 
should inform you that ('aptain Boraem, in re- 
poriincr to some of the crew after dinner on the 
day of anchoriniT at Hampton Roads the reply 
of the Commodore to their irKiuiry when the 
ship would proceed to Norfolk, said "as s«(;n 
M.I the pilot would carry her ^ while Lieut. Ihill- 
as pronounces it to have been "«s soon as the 
animals were out <f the s/»i'p" and while (/apt. 
Horaem himself admits neither statement to be 
correct, but alleijes his reply to have been, 
^Hhal afternoon or next inornini; 1 

Is it not somethiiifj irrecontnleable that Pass- 
ed Midshipman Anderson's recollection should 
warrant hisdeciarinir that some of the stalls of 
the animals were attached or nailed to some of 
the trucks of the (runs, while Carpenter Sagee 
who constructed them all, peremptorily af- 
firms that nothing of the sort was done in any 
one instance 1 

And is it not something, a little more than 
singular, that Lieut. HuUas should declare that 
two of the pieces of plate, the pitcher and wai- 
ter, had not the inscription engraved on them 
at the time whcii they were exhibited to the 



crew on the berth deck, while Mr. lliitciiinson 
who sent them from his house, and (Captain 
Boraein who nciived them on board, just pri- 
or to that exhibition, aver that Ihey hadi 

Hod grant, gentlemen, that these direct and 
almost extravagant contradictions and discrep- 
ancies on points bearing upon the merits of 
the specifications, be accidental ! 

I have endeavored to analyze the eight 
charges, with their thirty four specifications, 
to divest them of their mere descrijttive or ex- 
aggerating epithets and to systematize their 
substance so as to present distinct and com- 
prehensive answers to all and eacli of them. 
It is obviously unnecessary for me to follow 
them one by one, successively and according 
to their present arrangement, as some of them 
are mere repetitions under dilVerent heads, and 
others only varied by slight additions or omis- 
sions, more formal than material. As it is my 
intention, so I hope this Court will find on can- 
didly and carefully considering what I shall 
say, that no allegation made in any shape, to 
which the evidence has the least application, 
has been sutTercd to pass without its just and 
ample notice. 

Of the thirty-four, specifications seven of 
them may be characterized as purely personal, 
alfecling three individual complainants, namely, 
Lieut. Charles C Hunter, Chaplain Thomas 
1{. Lambert, and Passed midshipman ('harles 
C. Barton. The replies to these specifications 
will therefore best marshal tliemselves under 
the names of their respective originators. 

Of the remaining twenty-seven specifica- 
tions, cii^hl are extracted from what I may 
be permitted to distinguish as the Crew's 
present of Silver I'late; chvcn others are de- 
duced from the fact, with its necessary inci- 
dents, of my having brought to the United 
Si-.ites on board the John Adams and the <'on- 
stilution, the animnh enumerated; fire others 
are compounded out of the transient scene of 
alleged mutiny at ^ampton lioads; and the 
three last apply to the iniliction, on two Ma- 
honese servants and a seaman, of extra punish- 
ment. 

I propose, therefore to answer all the thirtv- 
four specifications, and ot course the eight 
charges, for specifications once removed, 
charges necessarily fall to the ground, under 
the following distinctive heads, pursuing an 
order conformable to what may be esteemed 
their relative dignity or importance. 1. 7'//e 
animals. 2. The alleged mutiny at Hump- 
ton Roads. 3. The Crcw^s present of Sili'tr 
I'late. 4. Fasscd midshipman Charles C. 
Barton. 5. Lieut, Charles U. Hunter. C. 



Chavlain Ihomas R. Lambert. 
Punishment. 



7. Extra 



I. THE ANIMALS. 

Under this head, my remarks without more de- 
tailed analysis, will apply to the 5th, Gih, 
7th, and 8th specifications of the 3d 
Charge; specification.' of the 6th charge; 
specification of the 7th charge — 3d, 8th, 
yth, 10 h and 11th, specifications of the 8th 
charge. 

It is certainly true, gentlemen, as a general 
proposition, that the guilt or innocence of an 
accused, should be determined v/ithout refer- 
ence to the expediency or inexpediency, the 
policy or impolicy of the law which is said 
to have been violated. The power to legis- 
late is not vested in any courts, civil or mili- 
tary, nor is it within their competency to 
abate the force or qualify the injunctions of 
acts of Congress. And were I able to dis- 
cover in any statute an express or implied pro- 
hibition of the otfences imputed tome within 
this category — were I not necessarily driven 
by the vagueness of the terms of the charges, 
to show their inapplicability to the matters 
specified, I should not feal, as in fact I do feel, 
bound as well as able, independently of sub- 
stantive and special justification, as a devoted 
friend of the American Navy, to convince this 
tribunal, that what is here characterized as 
»* scandalous conduct tending to the destruc- 
tion nf good morals,''^ or " unbecoming and 
unofficerlike conduct" was in strict accor- 
dance with a wise national policy, long actuat- 
ing our fellow citizens at large, long sanction, 
ed by the government, and especially useful to 
our branch in reconciling its otherwise seem- 
ing idleness in times of profound peace, and 
its necessarily heavy cost, to the sympathies, 
affections, and opinions, of a vast body of our 
countrymen. 

I refer, it will be remembered, at the outset, 
to the broad assertion thaj I acted criminally 
in bringing to the United States, from foreign 
lands, two animals on board the John Adams, 
and twenty three on board the Constitution. 
After encountering this, it will be my duty to 
enter into closer details, and to satisfy you, 
that being right in the general purpose, it 
would be absurd to ascribe guilt to me on ac- 
count of its necessary incidents, or its tem- 
porary though unavoidable consequences. If 
I might bring these animals home in one or 
more vessels of war under my command, I 
cannot persuade myself to believe that I shall 
experience any embarrassment in convincing 
those whom I address that they were stowed 



away as conveniently as possible, in reference 
to armament or crew; and that I was not wroncr 
in providing them with food, nor in securing 
them by stalls, nor in having somebody to 
pay them the proper attention on the voyage, 
nor in having them safely landed on anchoring 
in Hampton Roads. 

In early life, gentlemen, it so happened that 
I contracted an habitual respect and a strong 
taste for agricultural pursuits, as well as some 
knowledge of the difficulties with which the 
farmers in our new and thinly settled regions 
have to contend. The sudden death of a fath- 
er, who fell by the hand of a savage while in the 
actual military service of his country, leaving 
to his widow and children nothing but the 
invaluable inheritance of a good name, hurried 
a younger brother with me into the profession I 
have ever since followed. But the storms of 
ocean, the wanderings of seamanship, the oc- 
casional and absorbing bustle of battle, with 
the many cares created by a temperament some- 
what too ardent and heedless, have never ex- 
tinguished my fondness for the labours of the 
husbandman, and the desire to contribute, to 
the extent of my ability and means, to their 
solace and encouragement. Men never cease 
to relish what they loved as boys, and rarely 
do we outgrow even an exaggerated estimate 
of the importance of our first occupations. The 
basis of all other arts — the oldest and most uni- 
versal — the art which employs nine-tenths 
of every community — the one which as certain- 
ly produces individual happiness as it is es- 
sential to national prosperity — the art which 
invigorates bodily health, assuages mental in- 
firmities, fosters virtuous sentiments, inspires 
moral independence, and gives to the institu- 
tions of liberty their wisest, purest, and stern- 
est protectors — that art has always seemed to 
me to be the art of agricultu.e. Heretofore 
this conviction found its origin perhaps in hab- 
it or inclination — it is now confirmed by reflec- 
tion and experience. It is very possible that 
in my zeal to improve the resources of those 
who cultivate the soil, I may have done that 
which in the eyes of men whose tastes and 
opinions take a different direction, appears 
strange if not ludicrous. Indeed it is obvious 
that many of my young and accomplished ac- 
cusers refrained with difficulty from sneers 
and smiles, when their polite lips were doom- 
ed to utter the words "Jackasses;" and even the 
Honorable Secretary of the Navy, if I correct- 
ly appreciate the tone of the letter he address- 
ed to me on the 15th day of November, 1838, 
deemed the dignity of his pen as much lower- 
ed by the phrase as was the flag of the Consti- 



Indon outraged by fioating ovor sucli unmon- 
lionable creatures. The blood of the Arabi- 
an or Andalusian racer rescues biiri from con- 
tumely ; perhaps bis immediate destina- 
tion, to grace the fashionably thronrred turf, 
secures to him a silent and solid glory; while 
the homely and humble "Jackass," whose 
qualities endear him only to the homely and 
iiumi)le farmer; whose value is not swiftness 
but steadiness, not pride but patience, not 
bfiauty but bottom, must meekly bear the bur- 
den of contemptuous scorn. And yet, this de- 
jected drudi^e has been praised for the peculi- 
arities which constitutes his merits in my 
eyes; and I am tempted, in vindication of my 
taste, and in some measure to propitiate the of- 
fended djrrnity of the .Secretary of the Navy, 
and of my polished assailants, to remark with 
the anthiir of those praises, that "Washing- 
" TON, so justly named the Father of his Cmin- 
"/ry, was the /;;-.s7 wiio introduced this useful 
♦» animal into the United States, and his lauda- 
"ble example has since been imitated by a 
♦'small number of agriculturists." 

Wherefore, then, may I ask, with these sen- 
timents and objects, was I precluded, upon 
general principles, from making these animals 
accompany me in the vessels of war which 1 
commanded? I have proved incontrovertibly to 
this Court, by measures taken, and conversa- 
tions held contemporaneously with the pur- 
chase of the animals, and by their subsequent 
distribution throughout the United States, 
that my avowed and real purposes were what 
I have now stated. \V as it, nevertheless, scan- 
dalous and immoral, unbecoming and unoliicer- 
like! 

First, It was no where directly or expressly 
condemned by any law or regulation, and the 
very same thing bad been done over and over 
again, by older and more enlightened and abler 
otticers than myself, without the slightest re- 
proof or objection. You have it distinctly from 
the lips of uncontradicted witnesses, that — 

Cummndore Stephen Decatur, in 1805, brought 
in his ship to the United States, four Arabian 
horses. 

Commodore Imac Chauncey, in IS 18, several 
horses. 

Commodore Wm. Bainbrid^r, in 1826, six 
animals — a bull, a heifer, a ram, a ewe, a jack, 
and another. 

Commodore John Rodgers, in 1827, four 
ajcks and jennies. 

Commodore Bend, in 1821, one horse. 

Commodore Fnttcrson, three animals once, 
and again a flock of sheep. 

Commodore Crane, six or seven jacks and 



jennies; and another irreproachable and high 
minded captain, whoso valor adorned his coun- 
try with one of her brightest chaplnls, con- 
sidered it not unworthy of his imitation. I 
need hardly remark, as it is notorious and in- 
disputable, that none of these distinguisheil 
men were treated with categorical impeach- 
ment and censure,.much less with imputations 01 
scandalous, immoral, and unofl'icerlike conduct 
Such treatment was reserved for me alone. 

Second, Nor is it possible with any consi^* 
tensy or justice, to consider the bringing «>t 
these animals amenable to blame, when a vaii 
ety of analogous arts and proceedings, aco ii* 
panied by the utmost publicity, are of daily i •• 
currence. It wo\ild really s>'em as if the si* i . 
ject of importation, in order to provoke censu.g. 
must be substantially useful, and appropriate 
to relieve the toilsome pursuits of the humble 
classes of our countrymen: — should it be use- 
less, merely ornamental, and limited to scenes 
of luxury and fashion, like charity, it will cov 
er a multitude of sins. Take for illustration, the 
enormous, ponderous, and almost shapeless 
mass of marble, in procuring and embarking 
which on the coast of Greece, Commodore 
j Patterson employed the seamen of his squadron 
j for weeks, and encumbered his ship during a 
j protracted cruize. It has stood for ^^many years 
a disligured and incomprehensible monument 
of ancient sculpture in front of the Philadelphia 
Academy of the Pine Arts, no doubt deservedly 
an object of learned criticism or idle curiosity, 
I but contributing not the fifty millionth fraction 
of its own weight to the benefit of nine- 
tenths of our population. Let me not be under- 
stood as finding fault; 1 have done a similar act 
myself, (not yet discovered to be wrong) in 
presenting to the Girard College a huge gran- 
ite sarcophagus of immense antiquity, procured 
on the heights of Beyroot at much private ex- 
pense, and removed to my ship with great dif- 
ficulty: — what I mean to say and Vj insist upon 
is, that you cannot, as the Naval Department 
always has, countenance and encourage sue i 
importations as these on board our ships of war, 
without at least refraining to censure the bring- 
ing of animals, unless a decided preference is 
to be accorded to inanimate, unproductive, and 
useless articles of fancy or fashion, over living 
creatures of immediate utility and of perma- 
nent improvement. 

And now, gentlemen, after these remarks, 
does not my defence on this point become irre- 
sistible, when I adduce the positive written in- 
structions of the Navy Department, not merely 
warranting, but inviting the very proceeding 
alleged to be criminal? These instructions pen- 



8 



ned by an able lawyer and statesman, then at 
the head of our service, are dated the 27th day 
of June, 18-37, and came into my hands as com- 
mander of the squadron in the Mediterranean, 
by regular transmission from my predecessors 
on that station. They refer to the very policy 
on which I have commented, to the very mo- 
lives by which I have proved myself actuated. 
They are in the following clear and comprehen- 
sive language. "It will probably be in your pow- 
er, while protecting the commercial, to add 
something to the agricultural interests of the 
nation, by procuring information respecting 
valuable animals, seeds, and plants, and im- 
porting such as you can conveniently without 
inattention to your more appropriate duties, or 
expense to the government.''^ 

The construction of this authority admits of 
no perplexity. The importation on board our 
ships of war of valuable animals is distinctly 
and directly encouraged. It does not pretend to 
confer a new power, not before known to exist 
and be exercised by our naval commanders, but 
recognizes the power already in being, and ex- 
horts to its active use. The government 
wisely judged it expedient and just that agri- 
cnUure should share with commerce in a perfect- 
ly reconcileable extent, the benefits incident to 
our active and costly employment during times 
of peace: — it desired to inculcate this mode of 
being doubly useful to the country — and it 
doubtless saw in the practice the means of 
kindling among our farmers, and far through the 
interior, sympathies and interests in our behalf 
. such as prevail among merchants and along the 
seaboard. 

What then was meant in the official instruc- 
tions by "/w^or/tni,'''" animals'? Does it Hot ne- 
cessarily authorize all the incidents attendant 
upon such an act] Does it not justify the occu- 
pation of adequate space on board the public 
ship? Does it not warrant the employment of 
such agents and such means for the care of the 
quadrupeds as a public ship alTords] Surely it 
cannot and will not Le imputed to a high func- 
tionary of the American government, that he 
worded his instructions iii order to mislead and 
entrap — that he intended to allure the naval 
commanders into ^'•importation,'''' and then dis- 
claim having specified any privileges of room, 
of protection, of attendance? When he empow- 
ered us to '•'■import'''' valuable animals, he sanc- 
tioned all the unavoidable accompaniments or 
consequences of our doing so, equally as when 
was authorized the transportation of specie, 
equally as when were permitted loads of 
live stock to be stowed for messes, equally 
as when were allowed privaie perioris, 



our own citizens or foreigners, to be received on 
board, and to be conveyed as passengers from 
one place to another. And yet to so refined and 
ingenious an extent has the opposite construc- 
tion been narrowed, that it seems to be regard- 
ed as evidence of my having transcended Sec- 
retary Southard's authority, that the horses 
brought in the Constitution had temporarily 
"rfzsco/ored" the deck, and left some strag- 
gling tufts of their hair upon the stauncheons of 
the ship! Nay, indeed, if I am not mistaken in 
the scope of the suggestion, it is thought that 
though I might '•'•import'''''' the animals, I was 
bound to be my own groom, or import grooms 
as well as animals, and that to bestow upon 
them any of the time or labor of any portion of 
the crew was improper and illegal. Driven to 
so attenuated an extreme are my accusers, that 
in order to criminate, they abandon the dic- 
tates of practical common sense. 

Undoubtedly, gentlemen, when workings of 
fancy are substituted for fact, and we are ask- 
ed to imagine all the evils which might spring 
from almost any act, it is easy to delineate a 
very gloomy picture. Nothing is quite so harm- 
less, but it can under some circumstances be- 
come dangerous if not fatal. I can readily ad- 
mit that the presence of a single animal in a 
ship might possibly affect the comfort of her 
men; that messing and sleeping places anight 
be interfered with; that even the battery might 
be encumbered; that the force and efficiency of 
the ship might be impaired; and that she might 
become unequal to sustain the honor of the flag 
in an emergency. These grave and resounding 
consequences might follow upon consequences 
infinitely less ostensible than the one suppo- 
sed. But then again the converse is equally 
maintainable, and a hundred animals might not 
produce any one of those direful results. — 
Hence it is that the instructions of the Secreta- 
ry of the Navy prescribe no limit or condition 
whatever, except the one which would exist 
unexpressed, namely, that the authorized im- 
portation must be unaccompanied by ^^inatten- 
tion to more appropriate duties or by expense to 
the government.''^ 

The facts as proved by all the witnesses in- 
contestibly show that I was not guilty oi^'-inat- 
tention to more appropriate duties,'''' and a rap- 
id review of their chief features may not be in- 
appropriate or tedious. 

1. The animals were embarked on board the 
Constitution at Mahon, in the island of Minor- 
ca, the customary rendezvous or head quarters 
of the American armed vessels stationed in the 
Mediterranean Sea, after having been collected 
and kept on a farm iu therieighborhood. On the 



13lh of June, 1S33, my tour of duty as com- 
mander of the s(|iiadroii was over, and I ^liail 
nothing more to do, at the close of a four years' 
crui/.e, than to stretch directly across the Atlan- 
tic wiih my single sliip, and regain our own 
country. It was a period of perfectly profound 
peace. The milled aspect of our relations with 
France, which atone time excited my utmost 
vigilance, had tranquilly dispelled, leaving a 
smoother surface than had existed for years he- 
fore, and not the slightest shade of controversy 
lloated upon the horizon of international poli- 
tics to awaken doubt or apprehension. Kvery 
thing seemed, every thin<r was secure, settled, 
and serene, and his mind must have been mor- 
bidly disordered who could entertain the remo- 
test suspicion that my frigate mii^ht, in the 
centre of Christendom, and at that moment 
of universal amity, have encountered obstacle 
or rudeness of any sort. 

'2. Previous to embarkation, I consulted ful- 
ly and freely with my officers, and to comman- 
der Horaem, certainly discharging the func- 
tions of Captain, I gave the undisputed and 
positive order, which became generally under- 
stood throughout the ship, that in case of any 
unanticipated emergency, the animals with all 
their encumbrances should be immediately 
thrown overboard. The arrangements for their 
convenient accommodation, first clustering 
amidships, and subsequently against the sides 
between the guns, approved as the very best 
by every witness who has described them, 
were constructed in eighteen hours by carpen- 
ter Sagre, were carefully kept by him uncon- 
nected with the guns, their carrriagcs and tac- 
kle, and were so slightly fixed, that at a mo- 
ment's warning, and in less than fifteen min- 
utes, the deck could have been effectually clear- 
ed of any obstruction. 

3. Little offensive as such animals are, gen- 
erally indeed objects of attraction and kindness 
to seamen, every care was taken to prevent their 
proving sources of even fancied annoyance. — 
N ine persons to have them in charge were de- 
signated and systematixed, thus limiting to an 
easily spared num!)er, the temporary relief from 
other duties of the ship — liie stalls were scru- 
pulously preserved in a condition of cleanliness 
and purity, and were located on the gun-deck 
and near the port holes, with special reference 
to a free circulation or air during a summer 
month, and the few berthing or messing places 
with which tiiey interfered were utterly unim- 
portant on boaril a ship whose crew fell short by 
forty-four of her regular complement. Let me 
add, as overwhelmingly attesting the success of 
those arrangements, that of the four hundred 



and fiity oi loard, not a solitary officer or man 
has ventured at your stand to aver that the pres- 
ence of these animals in the ship impeded his 
duties, affected his health, or impaired his com- 
forts: — that the medical gentlemen have uni- 
formly conceded their entire wholeaomeness, 
and that not more than three or four partially 
sick men, were ever heard during the whole 
voyage to ascribe their natural restlessness at 
niglit to the noise of their hoofs. Kvery seaman 
was satisfied and pleased. 

Having then, gentlemen, the clear and ex- 
press authorization of the Secretary of the Na- 
vy for the importation of these valuable ani- 
mals, where, I ask, was there any ^inattention 
to my more appropriate diilies?'^ Is it to be 
found in fiict, or in fancy? Is a conclusion of 
solemn justice to be reached through realities 
and truth, or throagh exatrsferatinj; verbiage and 
fiction] 

It is unnecessary to advert particularly to the 
instance of iny sending to the United States 
more than a year before the Constitution return- 
ed, and by the.Iohn Adams, twosimilaranirnals, 
farther than to remind the C^ourt that the incor- 
poration of this among the specifications only 
shows that my accusers were wholly unappri- 
sed or regardless of the instructions of Secreta- 
ry Southard, and that they deemed the laws and 
usages of the Navy equally violated by the im- 
portation of two, as of twenty such creatures: 
that nevertheless that valuable officer, Captaia 
Stringham, with emphasis repelled the con- 
sciousness of having been required to do what 
was ^'■unbecoming and unnfficirlika'''' that he 
pronounced the arrangements he had made to 
have been unattended by the least embarrass- 
ment;that he denied the efficiency of his sloop to 
have been weakened; and that neiilier he nor any 
of his officers, had ever considered the circum- 
stance worthy of being reported to the Navy 
Diparlment. It was reserved for I know not 
whom to disinter this transaction,and to make it 
swell what] hope I maybe pardoned for term- 
ing' the sweeping drag-net of the eighth charge 
exhibited against me. 

One short additional explanation, and I will 
detain you no longer under this head. I under- 
stand the stores which I am alleged in the spe- 
cification of the sixth char'j;c to have ^'unncccxsa- 
rill/ ijrprndcd,^^ and in tin; spcrificalion of the 
seventh charge to have "wasted," are identical- 
ly the same stores whicli' I am subsequently 
alleged, in the lOth specification of the eighth 
charge, to have used for my own private benefit. 
They are almost all such as were appropria- 
ted to the acco»iiuodalion of the animals, and 
in that light arc carried to my account. How 



10 



they can be regarded as ^^unnecessarily expen- \ 
ded,^^ or as "wasted," according to the unbro- 
ken current of evidence you have heard, I am 
utterly at a loss to conjecture. I presume this 
to be merely a formal variation of the same im 
putation. My know^n, and declared, and proved 
intention, according to the established practice 
and principles of our service, was to have re- 
turned them in kind, or to have puid for them 
They were notoriously obtained by regular re- 
quisition at the times and in the quantities repre- 
sented to be wanted, and I gave directions that 
lists of them should be properly kept and handed 
tome. Such lists never reached me. Carpenter 
Sagre has sworn that the one he prepared re- 
mained long after it iiad been prepared, undeli- 
vered in the hands of Gomella, erroneously 
thought to be my steward, and Lieut. I3ul!us has 
confessed, on cross-examination, that the list he 
made for rough memoranda, was compiled for 
use before the Court of Inquiry, (although the 
subject, as one for scrutiny, v/as accidentally 
started there without having been heard of be 
fore,) and that he never communicated it to me. 
Had the list been submitted to my inspection, 
and ascertained to be correct, its really small 
amount would have left me without excuse for 
not restoring or paying: but once made the ba- 
sis of attack and investigation, it vi^ould have 
ill become me secretly to ratify it, and so ap- 
parently to shrink from a fail and public deve- 
lopment of its origin and character. It is 
now as publicly as unquestionably shown that 
these articles cannot be traced to my use, and 
that if, contrary to what 1 have proved, as to 
leading items, like the tent of Captain Boraem, 
they^were applied wholly to my private purpo- 
ses, yet were so applied from time to time, in 
making, or repairing, or cleansing the accom- 
modations for the animals. In the opinion I 
have formed after much reflection, most of 
them, as absolutely necessary to effectuate the 
safe and convenient importation which the Se- 
cretary's instructions invited, should be ranged 
under the general expenses of the ship, and 
many of them, of old canvass, the proof shows 
to have been returned; but be this as it may, 
having early made my intention in relation to 
them distinctly known, I shall prefer fully li 
quidatinar tiieir value. 
II.— THE ALLEGED MUTINY AT 
HAMPTON ROADS. 
Under this head my remarks will apply with- 
out more detailed analysis, to the 1st and 2d 
specifieaiions of the 4th Charge; 12th, 
13ih, and 14th specifications of the 8th 
charge. 
The discipline of the squadron in the IMe 



diterranean, while under my command, is con* 
ceded to have been well and efficientl)'^ main- 
tained; and every officer of the Frigate Consti- 
tution has felt himself obliged to confess that 
the conduct of her crew, during all his expe- 
rience, throughout her three years absence, 
until she again anchored in the waters of the 
United States, was unexceptionable. I speak 
now of the general deportment, activity, order, 
and obedience of the men; not considering the 
fact of Lieut Bullus having punished, in the 
course of one morning, and in the absence of 
Captain Boraem and myself, thirty or forty or 
seventy, nor the occasional other irregularities 
committed by detached groupes or single indi- 
viduals, set forth in the Book of Punishment, 
as indicating any thing beyond the casual and 
transient ebullition or forgetfulness to which 
masses of men, under the best rules, and of 
the best dispositions, are prone. 

The Captain of an armed vessel who has 
tried and knows the real character of his crew, 
and v^ho appreciates the responsibility of his 
public trust, is not always called upon even in 
emergencies, to execute his duties with force, 
terror, and destruction. Such resorts may be 
the very ones he should avoid, for, however 
much they might manifest the power with 
which he is invested, or the uncompromising 
rigor of his command, they may be ill-suited 
and ill-timed to the circumstances, and by ag- 
gravating the very mischiefs he wishes to 
remedy, defeat his just purposes altogether. 
How best to manage men, and sailors especi- 
ally, is an art, or a tact, of slow acquirement. 
The flourish of the cat, the rivetling of the 
irons, the brandishing of the cutlass, the vol- 
leys of marines, may '^be all good in their way, 
and all are confided, to the tempered discretion 
of him who has at the same time committed 
to his charge the lives of officers and crew, the 
public prosperity, and the honor of the flag. 
Who doubts, since the evidence thrice repeat- 
ed before this court, that a very large propor- 
tion of the crew of the Constitution, had, 
owing to the culpable carelessness of subor- 
dinate officers, become intoxicated on the after- 
noon and evening of the 31st of .luly, 1838, 
after anchoring before the town' of Hampton? 
and who doubts that tbi;s intoxication was im- 
pelled and excited by the conscientious belief 
of many that their contracts of service having 
expired, and their feet once planted on 
their native shore, they were free from the re- 
straints of milit uy discipline, and entitled to 
set them at defiance? Men thus conditioned 
and thus actuated, become dangerous and for- 
midable only when exasperated by unnecessa- 



11 



ry severity, and Iftaf^ui-'J in combination for aj 
common object — whilei y«!t 'more perverse! 
than provoked, more talkative than (Inrinjr.moro 
quarrelsonio amon:j^3t themselves than conspir- 
ing ajrainst otliers, they may bo vi^'ilaiitly 
watched or scpar.itt'ly confined, but are neither 
to be feateJ nor | massacred. 1 know, jrentle- 
men, that this is a le^^son of prudencp, which 
the rash spirit of yoiitli and the recklessness 
of irresponsible levity can with difficulty 
comprehend, Wiih such, the silly pertness 
or noisy insolence of a drunken tar is too apt 
to be answered with hot haste, and to lead to 
consequences alike disproportionate and pain- 
ful. With such, I doubt not^tbatj^forbearance 
is another word for tanieness, that to refrain 
from punishintj is submission to disorder, and 
that our own American blood had better deluge 
an American deck and stain American waters, 
than that any mode short of violence should 
check or appease the follies of drunkenness. 
These are not, however, the sentiments of 
weather-beaten age, nor do I entertnia the 
slightest a|)prehonsion of their being adopted 
by a tribunal of American Captains. 

It is possible, the professional talent of the 
Judge Advocato has proved it to be so, to 
cluster and condense the half dozen incidents 
of a half dozen hours into almost as few lines, 
and to give them by strong phraseology, a 
pungency redolent of crime. With no other 
foundation than the disorder to which I have 
referred, I am gravely charged with having 
witnessed a mutini/ and doing nothing to re- 
press it! I take issue on both points, and deny, 
on behalf of the noble crew of the Constitu- 
tion, that they ever mutinied, and second, as- 
sert it to bo incontestibly proved, that that 
which is misnamed a mutiny was by the com- 
mander of tlie ship, or by myself, fearlessl)', 
and thoroughly, and judiciously repressed. 

1. I do not think I have yet heard, or that 
I shall hereafter hear the scene at Hampton 
lioads denominated a mutiny by any military 
man. None of the officers who have detailed 
its various and unconnected irregularities have 
committed their professional intelligence and 
discrimination quite that far. The nearest 
approach to it, and yet far distant, were the 
pregnant expressions of Lieut. Bullus, who 
thought it " alinnsl a viuliny.'''' Lieutenant 
McUlair says it was no insurrection, only a 
general disregard nf orders. Dr. W ashintrton 
avers distinctly that it was not a mutiny: — 
Passed midshipman Muse says the disorder 
and fighting was among the men themselves, 
and not resistance to the officers. Midshipman 
Anderson says there was no violence toward 



the officers. Assistant Surgeon McLeod says, 
the crew were settling their quarrels among 
themselves, and he saw no resistance to the offi- 
cers. Carpenter S'agre says there was no at- 
tempt to resist the officers. Captain IJoraera 
himself seemed to think that it would have 
bL'cn exo<'edin<,rly preposterous to order out 
the marine guard to repress a mutiny when 
none existed: Lieut. Hardy characterizes tho 
whole proceedings as a " drunken row or 
froUc-y and the veteran boatswain, .Nicholas 
Stein!)aucrh, and gunner Tiios Uil('y,with I'rice, 
llolconib, Richards, and Paul, overwhr Iming- 
ly establish the truth of this uniform statement. 

But, gentlemen, what is a mutiny ? It is 
certainly an offence of which one seaman can 
be guilty as well as a hundred. Its essential 
characteristic is not numbers, but active, sub- 
versive purpose. It is, however, not drunken- 
ness ; nor is it abusive insolence; nor is it 
quarrelling; nor is it disobedience ; nor is it 
threateninir ; nor is it all these in combination. 
Nor are mere ^^mulinous icords''^ or *'na///;j««s 
con luct" to be taken for the more substantive 
and precise crime, as is accurately observed in 
the admirable treatise of Capt. Wm. Hough 
on the practice of Courts Martial. The defi- 
nition cf perhaps the ablest writer upon the 
subject, Capt. Thos F. Simmons, meets at once 
the comprehension of every discerning mind, 
and conveys a distinct and just idea: — Mutiny 
says he, " is individuallij resisting hi/ force, or 
collectively rising against or opposing military 
author it I/, such acts arising from alleged or 
vretertded grievances of a military nature:" 
and " it must be proved by fads, not by words 
alone, or by words at all, except in connection 
with facts, since even traitorous words against 
his majesty arc not punishable as mutiny," 
Nothinn, no matter how aggravated, can be 
denominated mutiny, which does not satisfy 
this description : — it must be " resisting by 
force" " rising against or opposing military 
authority. " It will strike every member of 
this Court, as tending to derange and confound 
the scale of punishments, as cutting every 
penal buoy adrift, and as setting the whole 
classification of oliences afloat without com- 
pass, chart, or soundings, if every improper 
or wanton misbehaviour can be exaggerated 
beyond its real character. 

When, accordingto ('apt. Simmons, "traitor- 
ous words against his majesty," uttered from 
the ranks of a British army, or by the crew of 
a British frigate are not mutiny — when mere 
words are incompetent to establish that crime, 
is it not exacting rather beyond what is reason- 
able from you to expect,that you will give more 



12 



potent "^efficacy to vapid and absurd epithets I to be old enough and cool enough to take coun- 
muttered against Lieut. Bullus by men in irons sel from their pilot, to endure the safety he pro- 
or in liquor 1 motes, and not rush with superfluous valor in- 

Strange mutiny, this, gentlemen! which is to the perils of shoals and flats. But indepen- 



unaccompanied by forcible resistance ; whose 
only clamor is dissension and quarrel among 
the mutineers themselves; whose single weap- 
on is a wash-bucket, and whose chief victim is 
a pugnacious black; which is without any aim, 
.without any concert, without any pretension : 
amidst which the commodore, the captain, the 
lieutenants, the midshipmen, and even the sur- 
geons are bustling and busy, unharmed, unas- 
sailed, unresisted : which opens with an ine- 
briated row, dwindles to an inebriated " sky 
larking " and closes in the profound silence of 
an inebriated sleep ! 

And let me ask, whence sprung the drunken 
disorder and how was it quelled ] 

Prior to the return of the men who had been 
engaged in landing the animals near Hampton, 
not a symptom of turbulence or riot was exhi- 
bited. Coni.mander Boraem brings down to 
its realities the exaggerated and contradictory 
statements of others, in relation to that part of 
the crew who, on the day of anchoring, and 
immediately after dinner, were anxious to as- 
certain when the vessel would proceed to Nor- 
folk, and he states without hesitation or quali- 
fication,!!that their number did not exceed fif- 
teen, that their deportment was perfectly res- 
pectful and proper, and that v/hen he answered 
them, they retired contentedly and tranquilly. 
At every repetition, or cross-examination, each 
witness harmoniously replied that the great 
origin of all the confusion which prevailed dur- 
ing the afternoon fand evening, was' the 
liquor obtained on shore and brought to the 
ship. It is suggested, if it be not expressly 
averred in the specification, that had the frigate 
gone directly up to her port of destination, in- 
stead of coming to anchor in the Roads, no 
disorder would have occurred. This may be 
true,but can scarcely be considered very logical, 
if it be stated as an argument to show that the 
disorder is attributable as a consequence to our 
anchoring. It was neither a natural necessity 
nor presumable effect of such a cause. The 
detention was unavoidable — it was known to 
be unavoidable as soon as we took.our, pilot ofl' 
Cape Henry Light. To him the exact state of 
the tide and the position of the bar were fami- 
liar. Some of my youthful accusers have in- 
deed ventured bravely on the opinion, that the 
wind and current being inward our stopping 
was not essential ; this is but a shoot from the 
same stock of heroism which disdains either 
prudence or patience, and I trust they may live 



dent of the actual necessity for coming to an- 
chor, the commander of the Constitution might 
for many reasons, deem it expedient. I believe 
it to be no uncommon trait in the character of 
my brother ofiicers, that they feel a generous 
and manly pride in the appearance of their 
ships in entering harbor, in the neatness and 
freshness of their equipments, and in the ab- 
sence of all the disfigurations which every 
voyage more or less produces ; nor am I aware 
that this sentiment has ever been or ever will 
be discouraged by their country or its rulers. 
Although authorized te bring with me the ani- 
mals on board and sedulous in maintaining 
their cleanliness, I must own having felt an ea- 
ger wish to divest the deck of the Constitution 
of their encumbrance before reaching Norfolk, 
and I availed myself as promptly as possible 
of the delay before Hampton v/hich the state of 
the tide enforced. 

And now I ask any candid and honorable 
man to say whether, from the established cha- 
racter and conduct of my officers and men, or 
from the known habits of the Naval service of 
the United States, I could and ought to have 
foreseen, as a natural result of the landing of 
these animals, when and where I did, that in- 
toxication, riot, and insubordination, would, 
for the first time, disgrace the ship] Whence 
was I justified in deducing an apprehension so 
unfounded on any thing which a long cruize 
had displayed] Why was I to suspect that 
the midshipman or the boatswain would be 
unwisely selected] that supervision and con- 
trol would be relaxed by those whose duty it 
\v?iS to exert them, and who had never before 
failed to exert them] That seamen heretofore 
steady and true to discipline, should suddenly 
abandon themselves to licentious misrule] Sure- 
ly it cannot be meant to insist that I had no right 
to direct the landing of the animals at all; and 
yet if I had that right, clearly and incontesti- 
bly, and no natural cause existed for misgiving, 
is it not somewhat oppressive that the gist of 
the laboured and highly wrought specification 
numbered twelve, of charge the eighth, is my 
^'■having occasioned" all the disorder there evi- 
dently pourtrayed, " by employing the crew 
and boats'^ in the exercise of that right] Let 
us be wary, gentlemen, aye, so wary as to be 
motionless and still — let us forbear the use of 
any privilege, the exercise of any authority, no 
matter how auspicious the appearances of 
things, lest some unseen and unknovvn subor- 



13 

<]inate, al the farthest remove intho fjraduated 
scale of inililary ori,'aiuzalion, should prove 
faithless to his- duty, and involve us alike in 
his vices and liis mischiefs. 

It is here that 1 am i)ound, professionally 
bound, unyieldinjirly to withstand wliat appears 
to me au eijually disloyal and desperate elVort , hroad pendant on hoard the Constitution by the 
to confound all {gradations of rank and all dis- special instructions of the Secretary of the Na- 
linctions of responsibility. In reference to an | vy, dated the 8th of Aucjust, 18:55, and con- 
order jjiven, for what, as the naval chief, ami ' formahly to tiie twenty-third chapter of the rules 
answerable] Certainly for its lawfulness, its re<rulatiM>/ the civil a<liiiinistralion of the Navy, 
expediency, its prudence — but never fur the to which he particularly referred; that while on 
manner of its execution; that lies first with; that foreiijn station I apjiointed Comtnandcr 



save mc harmless were my assumption much 
bioader, but lam not willin}^ to see the barriers 
and avenues which mark the lines and limits of 
iiaval discipline entin ly prostrated or defaced. 
That 1 commanded the American stjuadron 
in the .Mediterranean Sea; that I hoisted my 



hint to whom the order is delivered, is then 
transferred from one recipient to the next, and 
so step by step, until it finally readies and rests 



William Borarm the P^lajr < 'aptain of my ship, 
on tlie 1st of December, 1S3G, a<;reeably to the 
thirty-seventh chapter of said rules; that this ap- 



wiih him whose eye must see or whose hand poinlmentwas immediately communicated to, 
must enforce its fulfilment. When I instruct- and subsetjuently on the 'J3d day of February, 
ed Captain Boraem in general words to cause 1837, acknowled<,'ed and ratified by the Chief 
Uie animals to be landed, it became his duty , ot the Department; that every communication 



either to superintend and direct the opeiation 
himself, or to assign that duty to Lieut. Bul- 
lus, or to some other olficer, by whom again 
some inferior might he invoked to take its 
charge, and on which last agent should be duly 
and regularly thrown the responsibility for 
the safety, sobriety, nnd return of the boats 
and men. Upon any other rule of action, no 
commander is safe who does not personally 
follow the order he issues from his own lips or 
pen, through every channel of conveyance, pre- 
serving it from corruption or change at each 
advance, and witnessing its consummation; 
and as a strict corollary, justice and security 
would reijuire that at a given moment the num- 
ber nf commanders should be |)recisely eijual 
to the number of ordtrs then to be executed. 
It does not become me, in this presence, to ex- 
tend this view, by irgument or illustration — its 
intimation even was perhaps unnecessary. And 
yet, plain and priniary as it is, how completely 
and perseveringly is it overlooked or repudiated, 
when not merely the acts and omissions of 
Captain Horaem and of Lieut. Uullus, in their 
respective spheres of duly, but those of mid- 
shipmen or boatswains, with all their conse- 
quences, are formally accumulated at my door"? 
If, indeed, as he more than hinted, I exonera- 
ted ('aptain Boraem, in a private conversation, 
from the responsibilities of his executive post, 
is it to be understood that a similar derogatory 
arrangement relieved every one else under my 
command, and that all were freed by my large 
and undiscriminating readiness to answer for 
all things, to do or not to do with impunity? 
Gentlemen, I am content to bear, nay, I claim 
to bear the burden rightfully annexed to my 



I addressed to the government, and every one 
I received from it, described and recognized 
my position as commander of the squadron; 
and that every document, report, account, let- 
ter, or order, connected with the discharge of 
my military duties, emanating from any quar- 
ter, so delineated me, are facts so indisputably 
and glaringly proved by the original |)apers 
themselves on your record, that 1 must confess 
my utter amazement at having witnessed the 
introduction of a single piece of testimony by 
the judge advocate as rebutting all this, by 
showing that I was originally, on the 28th Feb- 
ruary, 1835, ordered to take command of the 
frigate Constitution only! Whence has come 
this order of the '28ih February, 1^*35, and 
wherefore is it adduced] 'I'he question is a 
pregnant one, and I must be pardoned for car- 
rying it out. It is drawn from the files of the 
Navy Department, and it is laid before this 
CJourt as evidence of the restricted nature ef 
my command. When offered by the Judge 
Advocate, it will be recollected that through 
my counsel I enquired the object for which it 
was offered, and was candidly answered as I 
have mentioned. Indeed, it could have no 
other possible application to the case. 

See, then, Mr. I'rcsident, in this striking in- 
stance, a melandioly illustrJ\tion of the man- 
ner in w hich I am treated I This solitary short 
letter is detached from a long series of official 
correspondence, addressed to me by the same 
Secretary of the Navy — it imports that my 
command was confined to one vessel only, and 
the proof of that fact being deemed essential 
to my overthrow before the Court, it is for that 
purpose adduced; and yet. Sir, on the very pile 



ank and station^ the facts in evidence would whence this has been torn, so near that careless- 



14 



nes? itself could not fail to find it, must be, aye, 
must be, the order penned by Secretary Dick- 
erson, on the 8th of August, 1835, only six 
months subsequently, the original of which I 
was fortunate enough to have at hand and to 
place on your table, directing me to proceed 
"io the Mcdilerranean and relieve Commodore 
Patierson in the command of the United States 
squadron on that station. " 

I know not, gentlemen, whether this be a re- 
sult of accident or design; it might in either as- 
pect have proved fatal to me. Nor do I feel soli- 
citous to know how or from w^hom this mutila- 
ted and deceptive piece of rebuttingl^evidence 
was obtained and forwarded for use here. Of 
one thing I am quite sure, that it has failed to 
establish, even formally, as fact, that which 
every one of you, every one of my accusers, 
and every man, woman, and child in this na- 
tion, knows to be utterly and absolutely false. 
If that fragment of official record was read to es- 
tablish that I was 720^ commander of the Ameri- 
can squadron in the Mediterranean, but merely 
of a single frigate, it is impossible to exagger- 
ate the delusion under which the American 
government, the American navy, the American 
people, and all with whom I had intercouse, 
personal or official, during my cruize, laboured 
and continued to labour. 

That crder of the 2Sth February, 1835, is 
the wretched shift of a desperate pretension, 
that being no more than the Captain of the 
Constitution myself, I was not entitled to a 
Flag Captain, and that therefore Commander 
3?oraem would not be invested by me with the 
responsibilities and rights to which I called 
him. Failing the competency of that order 
thus to narrow my command, the conclusion is 
inevitable, namely, that Captain Boraem's ap- 
pointment, known to and acquiesced in by the 
Secretary of the Navy, devolved on him the 
very executive duties which these specifications 
charge me with neglecting. The distinction be- 
tween the duties of one who is " commander 
of a squadron,'''' and of one who is merely 
"a Captain or Command- r''^ of a single vessel, 
is broad in principle and express in enactment. 
It is made in the rules and regulations present- 
ed for our service, which we cannot have the 
inclination,as we certainly have not the power 
to dissolve our disregard ; agreeably to these, 
Capt. Boraem was,?n their very terms, "respon- 
sible/or the whole conduct and good government 
of the ship, and for the due execution of all rules 
and regulations which concern the several duties 
of officers and company of the ship, and who are 
to obey him in all things which he shall direct 
them for the service of thv United States." 



When a staid and intelligent tribunal like this 
shall resolve to nullify the positive provisions 
of the law, to relieve a flag Captain from the 
very responsibilities which that law imposes, 
and to hold another answerable, whom the 
same law, for enlarged and comprehensive pur- 
poses, has expressly relieved; when, in fact, 
such a tribunal shall claim to be above and 
indifferent to the written and unequivocal rules 
of its government, to the salutary usages and 
principles of the navy — then, but not till then, 
will I expect to see overthrown, as useless or 
mischievous, the settled, Jegal, safe, conve- 
nient, just and wise system of graduated 
accountability under which we have so long' 
flourished. 

The disturbances at Hampton were, in a 
measure imputable to a practical evil which 
almost every experienced officer in the navy 
has at one time or other encountered. I mean 
the expiration of the seamen's contracts of 
service before the voyage is completed — their 
resolute claim to be at once exempted from 
duty and discipline, their demand to be dis- 
charged as soon as the anchor is down, and 
the universally prevailing opinion that, except 
on occasions of imminent peril or absolute ne- 
cessity, their services cannot be compelled or 
retained. The occurrence with Commodore 
Isaac Hull, when jjist arrived off New York 
with the United States, in 1827, is one of the 
very many illustrations that might be made, 
The Court will recollect that Captain James 
Armstrong delineated the scene briefly but 
strikingly. All hands were piped to dinner; 
in fifteen minutes after three cheers resounded 
from the deck — the ofiicers hurried fortli to 
ascertain the cause, and found the crew collect- 
ed in a body — Commodore Hull, at a glance, 
understood the proceeding and immediately 
authc/rized Captain Armstrong to permit one 
hundred men to go ashore at a time: — No! no! 
was their exclamation; " that wont do. Commo- 
dore? our times are out, we have faithfully 
done our duty, we are free men, and ive ivant 
to go." What was the reply of the able and 
gallant hero, who tore our first trophy from 
the maritime prowess of Great Britain? Did 
he marshal his marines, assert his authority, 
enforce obedience'? Did he resolve to drench 
his deck with the blood of the mutineers? Not 
he! but turning indignahtly round, he bade 
them to " clear out then," and in twenty 
minutes every soul was gone. 

This subject, always a delicate and impractica- 
ble cue, had engaged my attention while at Mahon. 
^The letters, addressed to me by the Honorable the 
Secretary of the Navy, several months before I eail- 



15 



ed homcwardsj'nnd dated the 1st of Jnnnary, and 
I5ll) of April, IB.'Jrt, wliicli have been luid before 
you, Hlttst my sense of its real finbarrassmi-iits. 
Lieut. Hardy of the Marines has told you of tho 
consultation licld willi my olliccrs in relation to il, 
and of the conclusions to which wo were driven 
by our united reflections. In order to preserve my 
valuable crew, I was at one time obliffcd to relax 
fiom the ordinary lunfjuage of shippinfj articles 
respecting the moiDcnt at which the voyajfc should 
ho deemed at an end and themselves at hberty to 
depart. I (In not enlarge upon this tuiiic with any 
pleasure; there arc reasons obvioiis to every naval 
offictjr why its peculiarities should be touched as 
lightly as [lo.ssiblc ; they arc found in the c.vtrcmo 
dilfloully of' harmonizing in a system yet undejjra- 
ded by impressment, the wants of the service 
with the rii,'hts and freedom of its agents. The 
Act of Con<;re.ss passed on llie 2d day of M.irch 
lt!37, with whose provisions I was little familiar, 
wiiilc it proves that our national le<rislators are 
themselves alive to tiiis matter and solicilKins to 
provide a remedy, also proves, by its circumspec- 
iion, how very limited and doubtful is the extent 
to which they can conslitutionally jjo. For my 
own part, ;jentlemcn, I felt at Hampton Roads, on 
beinw' reminded by some of the men that their 
times were out, pretty ni'ich as CoiHmodore Hull 
did at New York, and hence I was anxious that 
pilot boat^ should bo obtained by means of Lieut. 
Drayton.and the 6i;;nal given as early as possible to 
carry oil" tho dissatisfieil. 

Tiie allegation that I took no measures to re- 
press the misconduct of the crew wassi'jnally dis- 
proved, cv< 11 in its narrowest import, from the lips 
of my accusers tiiemsclves. Constantly on deck, rc- 
pellinij by mere cestutcs or words iho absurdities 
of some, brinjfin;^ to obedience and irons the per- 
versities of others, exhortintr and tr.inqniliziii^ on 
the llirecastlo, cneouratjin<r and relieving- tiio tears 
and fatigjes of my tirst lieutenant, and only 
retiring to my cabin alter having gone through 
out a silent and sluinb'-'riiig siiip, and after re- 
ceiving from (,'aptuin Uoraem, as he himself 
lias frankly testified, tho report, at eleven at 
night, that all was well, 1 know not upon 
what basis of fact it can be pretended that I 
was backward or inactive. Pardon inc, gen- 
tlemen, I do know — il is that I pursued the dictates 
of an undisturbed jiid'_n!iciit instead of those of 
vindictive passion — it is that I cherished and saved 
the lives of my fellow men, instead of butchering 
them ill a state of iii:;ensilc brutality — it is that 1 
forbore to kill scores ot" those who etaiined to be no 
longer subject to my command — in tine it is that 
tlie noble Constitution was not to suppress a fan- 
cied, lashed ii'to a frighti'ul mutiny, and hundreds 
of intoxicated sailors maddened into battle against 
tlozcns of tiicir othccrs. 

1 will add nothing more as to this allcdgcd mutiny 
except to say to this Court and my country, that 
painful and perplexing as the sudden and unlookcd 
for tumult was, the most searching review which 
my memory can make of its incidents, leaves mc, 
in reference to my own conduct, without an error 
to regret, or a feeling to condemn. 

3. THE CREW'S PRESENT OF SILVER 
PF^ATK. 

Uudcr this Iicad my leiiurks will appl}', without 



more detailed analy.sis to the 1st 2(/ 2d and 4th 

Sjivri/iciiliiiiiH of Chdr^e Third — and the \t It 

f>t\i 6lh (I ml 7 ill Spicijicationa of Charge Eiglihh. 

Commander William Boraem on the 8th of 
January lf^:i7, more than three years and five 
months ago, addressed to me a letter saying "fl 
sum of money has heen plrir.ed in the hands of 
Lieut- Hullus anil myxrlf Inj the Crew, tcith the 
wish that tee should purchase a Srrvire of I'lale 
til be presented to yuu as a testimony of titir rt». 
pert. The amount received has hern rxpended in 
arrnrdanee with th'it wish; and I now. Sir, in the 
name of the Crew, solicit your acceptance of the 
accompanying Service of FLite, which I am h(ipp\f 
in heimj made the medium of presenting to you. " 

Accompanying this letter, and placed with it 
upon a sepcratj table in the cabin of tho Constitu- 
tion were four pieces of worked silver,"two tureens 
a pitcher, and a waiter, — on each of which was 
engraved the following simple inscription ^^I'resen. 
ted as a mark of respect to Commndure J. D. Elli- 
ot of the United States Navy, by the Crew of the 
Constitution. " 

.■Mthough at this time, and for some weeks before 
Capt. Uoraem, a< he has liimself explicitly acknow- 
ledged, was livmK with me in the cabin on terms of 
private coiifideiilial intercourse, and although und- 
er such cireumstances I might well imagine that 
colloquial and friendly consultations in relation to 
a matter so purely personal would, at least, not be 
perverted, yet so it happens, thai the acceptr.nce of 
what he then declared liimself "happy in being the 
medium of presenting,^' connected with a tow 
short conversations which preceded as well the ten- 
der as the acceptance, constitute the sole ground on 
this subject for ihe charges of "scandalous comiuct 
tending to the dcstrurtiun of /rood murals,'" and of 
" unbecoming and unofficerlike conduct." It ia 
painful tosiJj)po.=ie tint Captain Boraem or Lieut. 
IJnllus sought interviews on this delicate transac- 
tion, utteily unconnected with tiicir othcial duties, 
only in order to draw from mc some unreflecting 
phrase which migiit be caught up and treasured 
for future use. 

Hut it is consolatory to fee! and know that, not- 
withstanding my open and conlidiiig frankness, 
not a word or an act has been related which view- 
ed with the ingenuousness natural to honorable 
minds, an. I not tortured to indulge a preconceived 
sus|;icion of vulgar meannesss, can possibly bring 
into question my motives or my sciitirneiils. 

I accepted the plate thus prolVercd "in the name 
of the crew," and this, and tliis alone, is aveT'ed 
to be criminal. I took from tiie hands of an olH- 
ecr high in rank, .nnd from a man enjoying my uii- 
limited personal confidence, what he did not deem 
it derogatory to oiler, but on the contrary, 'felt 
hnpjry in bcin:: made the medium of prcscntins." 
I took it exactly as ho tendered it, and by simply 
so doinjr, 1 have subjected myself to arraignnieut 
and tri.ill 

As similar transactions arc constantly taking 
place in every country; as scarcely a daily jour- 
nal appears that does not record some such rnani- 
t(:station of mutual kindne.s.s between individuals; 
I am bound to suppose that in the eyes of those 
who impeach my acceptance of a present, tlierc must 
have been some peculiarities in it, whieli give to 
what is olherwisc an ordhiory and innocent affair, 



16 



a totally opposite character. What these poi- 
sonous ingredients were, I have not been told, and 
am left to conjecture as well as I may. Had the 
accusation specified the noxious particulars, and 
enabled me to turn at once to the pith and mar- 
row of the supposed ofFunce, much trouble would 
liave been spared and more justice done me. As 
it is, the Court must pardon me while I attempt to 
analyze in order to repel a charge so vague and 
indefinite. 

I do not know ihat it has ever been clearly set- 
tled how far the administration of military law can 
penetrate into the social relations and strictly in- 
dividual actions of military men. Tiiere are, we all 
feel, certain spheres within which we claim to 
act as we please, with absolute independence, 
unchecked but by our own sense of right. Tliese 
are spheres as to which no uniform rule can be 
assigned, which do not involve illegality, vice, or 
dishonor and which every gentleman, with every 
shade of opinion and every variety of taste, must 
regulate exclusively for himself. They are be- 
yond and above civil regulation, and cannot well 
be subjected to martial authority. Would it not be 
deemed strange, ifthe Chief of the Naval Depart- 
ment, happening to be a zealous champion of what 
is known as the Temperance Cause should, in the 
sincere spirit of amendment and reform, convoke 
Courts to determine whether this or that officer 
"were not guilty of '■'■scandalous conduct tending to 
the destruction of good morals" by non-adiiesion to 
a pledge of total abstinence? Would it not be 
deemed equally strange, if another Chief, animated 
by a truly cliivalrous spirit, should resolve to en- 
force, through the agency of the same tribunals, 
his code of minor morals, his principles of polite- 
ness, and his conceptions of true courtesy? Or, 
suppose, in I he progress of intolerant perfection, 
that it should bo esteemed evidence of the ^^unbe- 
coming and unofficerlike" to keep such or such 
company, to form such or such intimacies, to ac- 
knowledge such or such friendships? These are 
questions whicii admit of only one series of an- 
swers; tlie courses suggested would be pronounced 
wrong, because invasive of essential and inviola- 
ble rigiits. And yet are they not directly illustra- 
tive of the case before you? Who is to teach me 
which of my fellow beings I ought and which I 
ought not to respect and love? Who is to teacli 
me to discriminate between tlie heartfelt offering 
of the grateful tar and the glittering gift of a Pe- 
ruvian Vice King; to reject the former as deroga- 
tary, to accept the latter as ennobling? By what 
compulsion am I to be instructed in the exalted 
and mysterious delicacies of refinement which cling 
to tiiosc who are above, and spurn those who are 
below? The lesson, gentlemen, however, valuable, 
would be too dearly bought if its principle subject 
us all, in our private relations and our moral sen- 
timents, to perpetual question and controul. Our 
service, instead of the gallant and generous one it 
is, would degenerate into a corps of mutual spies, 
and the bravest and the best would in succession 
sink under some charge of eccentric or heedless 
deportment, of coarse taste, or speculative error. 

Is there anything in the relation that subsisted 
between myself and the crew of the Constitution, 
which forbade the acceptance of their present? It 
is a serious mistake to reason and judge upon this 
topic, with the supposition that Amciican seamen 



are personally dependent on their officers. They 
are not sol Tiieir contracts, their pay, their pro» 
tection, their discipline, and their duty are well de- 
fined and certainly guaranteed by the Jaws, 
They may be and doubtless are sometimes treat- 
ed with capricious harshness, and sometimes cheat- 
ed by mercenary frauds; and so are the operative- 
of every sort, on shore as at sea; but while faithful 
ly fulfilling the stipulations of their enlistments, 
competent to their tasks, and obedient to orders, 
they need fear the frown or court the favor of no 
one. 

Subordination and subserviency are never to be 
confounded; the former leaves to the humblest his 
independence of private action and thought, the 
latter takes it from the Iiighest 

It has fortunately been in my power conclusive- 
ly to prove the motive which prompted the proceed- 
ings on the part of the crew. Several of them now 
industrious and successful mechanics, wholly un- 
connected with myself or the Navy, have, with 
great precision and intelligence, detailed to this 
Court its origin and design. Springing from a 
manly abhorrence of calumny, its inipulse was not 
flattering or fawning, but merely vindication and 
justice. It was to disprove a base denunciation 
that thcT/ moved, who of all human beings, were the 
bcstjudges of its truth or falsehood. Had the 
libel not reached them through the merchant ves- 
sels at Mahon, had they not seen me, in the col- 
umns of a paper pourtrayed as a black-hearted 
and malicious sea tyrant, they would probably 
never have perceived an adequate object for their 
testimonial. And let me frankly acknowledge, 
that when, at the lapse of some weeks, after endu- 
ring the pain and mortification which a sense of 
unmerited obloquy creates, I first heard of the spon- 
taneous movement among the generous tars, I felt 
the consoling force of such a refutation too deeply 
not to give it a grateful welcome. 

The manner in which this business is elabora- 
ted through several accessorial specifications, its 
inherent delicacy, and its liability to be misrepre- 
sented by gossiping insinuations, demand from me 
more atteulion than the evidence on which it has 
been constructed would otherwise warrant. 

It is worthy of remark that the Judge Advocate 
produced but four witnesses from wliom the slight- 
est elucidation of the matter was elicited; Purser 
Hambleton, Lieutenant Bullus, Captain Boraem, 
and Mr. J. P. Hutchinson, American Consul at 
Lisbon, the last gentleman having been subpoenaed 
by myself. The evidence of Purser Hambleton 
was altogether formal, tending only to establish 
the authenticity of the subscription papers, upon 
whieli he had paid to Captain Boraem the sum of 
$584.50. The evidence of Mr- Hutchinson, gave 
as to every material feature a distinct and triumph- 
ant explanation of my conduct. So that the only 
accusatory testimony, and that when stripped ot'its 
vague and unfounded implications essentially nn- 
important, is deduced from Captain Boraem and 
Lieutenant Bullus. I cannot help considering it 
as singular that, reposing upon the mere light 
presumptions to be wrung from the statements of 
these two, the organ of the Government was never 
directed to resort for positive facts and unimpeach- 
able developments to the hundred other resources 
accessible to his summons. 

As eaily as the 14th of December 1836, a nuta- 



1? 



bcr of the crew of ihe ConalituUon, while she was 
yet at anchor liefore Malion, adclror<.sed a letter to 
<japtain Doraem and Lieutenant Uuiius, stating 
that they had rcsojfcd to present me a service of 
plate, that in order to do so, they had collected 
amonif themselves a sum of money, and that they 
wished thene two g-i^ntlemen to make the purchase 
and execute the purpose in their name, 'I'he of- 
fice was assumed wit'iout the least hesitation : — 
and as soon as an opportunity occurred, by our ar- 
rival off Lisbon on the 4lli January 1837, my liro 
friends entered upon its discharge. Until this 
period, the proof is uniform and iiicontcstible that 
I was neither conversed wnh, ncr consulted upon 
the subjeci, and took no part or lot, directly or in- 
directlr, in the proceeding. 

Captain Boraem and Lieutenant Builus landed 
with tlie known intention of sclcciin!^ or ordering a 
suitable service of plate : and repaired at once for 
advice and aid to a [gentleman, e()iially upright, er- 
perienced and honorable. Mr. Hutchinson, who 
has represented his country and protected its Com- 
mercial interests at the capital of Portugal for 
near thirty years, accompanied them promptly to 
the store ot the artizaii, and kindly intimated his 
impressions in order to guide their choice. It was 
impossible exactly to accommodate the prices ask- 
ed for any preferred pieces o( the silver to the 
amount confided by the Crew to their manage- 
ment, and Mr. Hutchinson first and frankly sug- 
gested to Captain boraem the propriety of speak- 
ini; to me on the subject, willi a view to ascertain 
whether the design of the Crow mij^ht not be exe- 
cuted conjointly with a purchase by myself, so as 
to accomplish l)oth more handsomely and usefully. 
Captain Horaem deemed tho topic one on whioli I 
could not be consulted with delicacy : but Mr. 
Hutchinson thought difl'erenily, and volunteered to 
see me. The Court will recollect how frequently 
(his gentleman repeated that I was reluctant to say 
or to do any thing about it: — that I insisted upon 
considerinjj; it a matter to be arranged exclusively 
between the Crew and their special agents ; and 
that I finally yielded only after remonstrances and 
representations which seemed to give to my scru- 
pulous abstinancc an air of mawkish and aflected 
modesty. 

Desirous of buying, as in fact I did buy on ray 
own' account and with my own means, for use in my 
Cabin, twice the quantity nf plate that could possibly 
have been obtained to etTectuote the oiin of the 
crew, I went with Nfr. Hutchinson, at his ear- 
nest request, to Lisbon, and as ho has [lositively 
and accurately represented, I agreed to the plan he 
himself devised and urged relative to the intended 
present. Not one more word passed — not another 
step of any kind was taken in which I participated. 
The four pieces of plate, ninrked with the inscrip- 
tion, left by the workman for a day at the house of 
our Consul, were brought on board the Shij), plac- 
ed upon the berth deck for inspection by the Crew, 
who examined them with unabated kindness of 
feeling towards myself, and were then transferred 
to my apartment, with the comphmenlary letter I 
have cited, by Captain Doraem. 

It is undoubtedly true — the fact was perfectly 
known to every one of tho gcullonieii who took 



the least ccmccrn in the transaction ; to no one bet- 
ter than to (Captain I5oraem — that I had been per- 
ciuaded by Mr. Hutchinson to defray from my own 
purse whatever might be the difference between the 
cost of the selected articles, and tho suin appropria- 
ted by the Crew, and as soon as the bill for these 
four pieces, thus engraved, thus adopted, thus pre- 
sented, and thus accepted, was handed in, its ag- 
gregate ."vas, without any discrimination whatever', 
lirst paiil by Captain Uoraein to Mr, Hutchinson, 
and then by Mr. Hutchinson to tho raonufaclurer. 

It has never occurred to me, until this accusa- 
tion was shaped into form, that the apprrriaiion of 
a complimentary testimonial could be graduated by 
its sizes, its cxjicnsiveness, or the number of its 
parts. The sword, Mr. President, which at the 
opening of this trial, I deposited in your hands, 
would not bo less cherished were it, scabbard and 
all, of rusty old iron, nor more, were it studded with 
brilliant?, and perhaps I may bo pardoned, at this 
moment, for adding that tho single medal conferred 
upon me in 1814, by the representatives of my 
country, is just as inestimable to me as if it had 
been accompanied by n hundred counter parts. I 
speak to men whom I know to be capable of un- 
derstanding this: — to whom the sole value of such 
a gift is in the sentiment it betokens and perpetu- 
ates. Captain Gallagher, of the Vandalia. who 
received in 18S0 from Purser Harry the amount 
subscribed by his ciew with which he might pur- 
ciiase on his arrival in the United Slates, the me- 
morial of their affection and respect, expended the 
sum upon a single vase: — while the same flaller- 
injx feelings were manifested in 1833 towards Cap- 
tain Kobcit T. Sjiencp, of tiie Cyane, in the desig- 
nation, as with me, of a sett or seivice of plate. 
The compliment can hardly be considered greater 
in the one case than in the other: — and I am quite 
sure that to neither of these distinguished officers 
could it make one particle of difference whether 
the esteem indieated were attested by one or a do- 
zen pieces. When Commodore McDnnougb, the 
good, the gallant, and the glorious .McDonougn, 
permitted in 1819 the crew of the Guerriere t» 
laslen to his side a sword to remind him of their 
devotion, do you suppose that he paused one m- 
stant to count its cost, or to scrutinize its orna- 
ment ? .'Vnd when Lieutenant ("ommandant Ken- 
Don, of the Peacock in lC'2('i, or Lieutenant McKin- 
ney, of tho U. Slates, in 18:J4, were similarly grac- 
ed, I cannot presume that because lower in (bo 
scale of rank, they entertained a single sentiment 
less elevated and pure. Why then, Gentlemen, 
should it be ima;:ined that any other cause than 
accident or misconception added to the two tureens 
believed to have been especially chojcn by Mr. 
Hutchinson and Captain Boraem on behalf of 
Ihe crew, the pitcher and waiter ! Assuredly 
their presence, in no conceivable respect, augment- 
ed tho real warmth or worth of tho generous trib- 
ute ! Most assuredly, the plain and unostenta- 
tious inscription conveyed as cheering a recol- 
lection when indelibly affixed but once, as if it 
had undergone a thousand repetitions. 

If, indeed, it were not in the contemplation, at 
the time, of IVlr. Ilutciiinson or Captain Boraem, to 
cmbiaco the pitcher and the waiter a^ pail of the 



18 



ciew's present, why were they sent unitedly | 
with the two tureens to the Consular residence? — 
why were they sent there, as has been unequivo- 
cally proved, with the inscription already upon 
themi why were they thence, in the same associa- 
tion, transferred to the deck of the Constitution, 
and submitted to the gaze of the crew? Why, then, 
and still thus, under the orders and eyes of Captain 
Boraem himself, were they covered by his letter of 
presentation? And why, after the whole transac- 
tion had for some days been completed, was the 
manufacturer's bill, coupling them with the tureens 
and confined exclusively to those four piece?, al- 
though I had myself bought several more, paid un- 
distinguishingly in one round sum'' With all this, 
I had absolutely nothing to do: — it was left entire- 
ly, and really without a thought, in the hands of 
others. And permit me. Gentlemen, frankly to ask 
how it could possibly happen, unless both Mr, 
Hutchinson and Captain Boraem were themselves, 
at the period, under the impression that the pitcher 
and waiter were intended as accompaniments of 
the tureens, they could see them pass through all 
the ceremonial to which I have adverted, and never 
once, as has been unhesitatingly acknowledged, 
hint to me in the most distant manner, the exist- 
ence of some misconception or mistake, if in truth, 
they deemed such a misconception or mistake wor- 
thy of notice? Let me not be understood as in the 
remotest degree doubting or disputing the present 
impression as to his original intent, expressed by 
Mr Hutchinson; but of the precise scope of that in- 
tent I was not apprized, and without exact know- 
ledge, or without my attention being drawn to it, 
the rectification of any inadvertence or error com- 
mitted by tbe Silversmith, or any body else, was 
wholly beyond my power. 

Tt is proper that I should remark also, that in 
preparing the inscription, unambitious and didactic 
as the phraseology is, I took no part, Mr. Wells, 
than whom I know no gentleman of purer integri- 
ty or taste, held the pen, both as to this and the 
equally unostentatious letter of Captain Boraem. 
He has unqualifiedly attested tbe fact of the unas- 
sisted, unprompted originality of his compositions, 
and he is too calm and dispassionate a man to trifle 
at his age with the reputation for unsullied virtue 
he inherits from his revolutionary grandsire, and has 
long himself illustrated. When this gentleman em- 
phatically denied, under oath, that in any thing he 
had written, or said, or done in respect to the plate, 
he was urged, or prompted, or authorized by me, 1 
regarded and still regard, the mere airy presumption 
arising out of his having held the station of my se- 
cretary as effectually dispelled. 

I should here close my answer to these more un- 
generous and unpleasant than important specifica- 
tions, were I not reminded of two incidents intro- 
duced by Lieut Bullus, which are capable of dis- 
tortion, and ought therefore to be noticed I refer 
to the circulation among the crew of a second sub- 
scription list, and to the brief conversation said to 
ha>'e preceded it in my cabin, 

1. One <if the crew who annexed his signature 
to the second list, Nicliolas Mermeir, now pursuing 
his mechanical occupation, unconnected with, and 
'.vhull? iadf pendetit on the naval service,ha3 stated 



that it originated with the men, and that its object 
was to make up the deficiency of the first subscrip- 
tion, caused by the transfer of some who had signed 
it to other vesselsof the squadron. Mr. Wells,who 
was presumed in a spirit of morbid suspicion to 
have started it, and in the same spirit presumed to 
have been commissioned by his chief, has signally 
and peremptorily repelled both branches of the im- 
putation. He has, with a natural indignation de- 
nied ever to have received authority oi direction 
from me for any such object — ever to have applied 
for, or ever to have obtained a cent from any of the 
crew — and declared his preference to quitting the 
service at any time, rather than undertake a duly so 
unbecoming in the one to propose, or the other to 
execute. 

2. Lieut. Bullus alleges that two or three days 
after he had declined any farther agency about the 
plate, in the cabin, and in the presence of Mr. 
Weils, I suggested the idea whether, as the crew 
might desire to carry out their intention fully, it 
would not be proper to apprise ihcm that their sub- 
scription fell short in the price to be paid. Mr. 
Weils emphatically asserts that he never heard any 
conversation of the sort. 

Wcrfi I to be placed upon the solemnity of my 
own oath, I am ready and willing to give it an 
equally positive denial — not that I can speak with 
any recollection of the circumstance at all, but that 
I know such a suggestion would have been utterly 
foreign to my feelings and determination. Could 
it possibly have dropped from my lips, while they 
were holding no converse with either my head or 
my heart, I chose lor it a strange recipient in the 
gentleman who had moodily withdrawn from the 
transaction, leaving it wholly in the hands of Cap- 
tain Boraem and the Consul! But believed or dis- 
believed, what weight cm be given to an idle and 
casual expression, withdrawn as soon as uttered, for 
Lieut. Bullus himself represents that I instantly 
acceeded to his view of the subject. Had there been 
horrid guilt in the conception, yet 

Evil into the mind of God or man 

May come and go, sa unapproved and leave 

No spot or stain behind ! 

In sober truth, gentlemen, all of these specifica- 
tions, beyond the simple and acknowledged accept- 
ance of the present, are a web of subtle suspicions, 
which can catch no belief from unprejudiced and 
ingenuous minds. They, and they only, who are 
already disposed to be entangled in meshes of such 
woavings, who are willing to find in the highest 
ranks of our navy the paltry and debasing motives 
which would discredit the lowest: — who are eager 
to distort and discolor every phrase and look, can 
possibly grasp at this "jinrea/ mockery^'' and hope 
to '^clutch" in its airy nothing, the substantial dis- 
honor of an American Captain, 
4. PASSED MIDSHIPMAN CHARLES C. 

BARTON. 
Under this head, my remarks will apply, without 

more detailed analysis, to the 1st, 2d, and 3d 

specifications of Charge First. 

Nothing more rapidly or more justly exasperates 

the public mind than a wanton exercise of delegated 

power, for cruel and oppressive purposes. I should 

not respect ray countrymen as I do, were they less 



19 



«pt than they arc to sympalhiflO with the victim of 
persecution. Their intol.Tancc of all niuliciou*, all 
unnecessary inhumanity, io iho pervading charac- 
tcriritio of their history, ilieir institutions, their le- 
Rislaiion, anil th>ir hal'its. When, llierclori', Mr. 
President I fjund, shortly after my return to the 
United t?tate3 in 183;!, that a long continued and 
yet unweaticd etVort had been made durini; my ab- 
sence, throuifh the public press, by private cjrres- ^ 
pondence, and by industrious disseniinations Irom ; 
mouth to mouth, to forosiul the truth, to stigrnaliie ! 
me as a tyrant, and to set af^ain^t mo the deep 
current of universal indignation, by monstrous and 
redoublincf inisstalemeHts respeclinp my treatment j 
of Passed Midshipman Unrlon, I should h'lve b^nved 
to t!ie fate thus |>reparcd for mo, had I not believed , 
as much in the justice as in the sensibility ot my 
country. Up>n this case, and upon that of Lieut, j 
Hunter, pushed with an asperity alike indefatigable 
and liiller, overleaping the boundaries of military 
juristhction, and entering into the heats and storms 
of unsparing party, I could discern no means of jus- 
tificalion except by soliciting a Court of Inquiry. It 
is hard, gentlemen, very hard, at my lime of hie, to j 
bear a reputation for cruelly. 1 hoped to disabuse i 
my fell J w ciiiiens — to prove to them that I was) 
not the odious and malignant monster I bad been I 
depicted — and if indeed there had been sullerings 
which awoke a generous sympathy, to point out 
their rash and real uutlior in the sutl'erer himself, i 
1 have already done so, with a gratify in<j conscious- [ 
iifss of complete success, and I will again do so | 
now. 

The incidents on which have been founded the 
complaints of Passed Midshipman Uartuii, are re- 
ferred to the 30th of November, lb35, and 5ih of i 
January, \V>M. .At those dates, and between them, i 
ihe I'ri^iite Constitution a:id the yohooner bihark 
were the only vessels of our .Mediterranean Ijquad- i 
ron lying at Smyrna. Portions of the Austrian, I 
French, British, Kussian and Turkish tleels, under | 
their respective admirals, rode at anchor in the | 
«amo harbor. I had, some weeks before, received | 
from Capta.n Ridgway, in command of the Shark, | 
a request to be supplied with adJitional oiliceis,! 
and. lor reasons \\ hich I olFered to develop, but wliich i 
(his court excluded as irrelevant, I had transferred 
Passed Midshipman liarton to that vessel, wiih di- 
rections that he should not be permitted to visit the 
shore. These order;; wero sworn hy his superior | 
oiKcers, Captain Kidgway, and Lieut. Totten, to ; 
have been communicated t» .Mr liarton; how they 
were obeyed, rather how they were evaded and | 
'lolited, cannot fail to be remembered. On the ; 
3d of November, quilting his post as officer of the 
ileck, and alfectin:; to assume a duly assigned to 1 
another, he prix;eeded ti) shore in the launc'i, en- 1 
countered his antagonist. Passed MnUhipman ' 
Wood, in a duel, and was wounded in the Irg, the 
liall from Mr Wood's pistol fracturing the bone be- 1 
low the knee. The fight was public, notoiious, 
nlfcost ostentatious, in the presence of eight or ten 
of the boat's crew, and of at least twenty strangers. 
Assistant Surgeon Woodworth bandaged the limb 
while yet upon the field, and administering a stim- 
ulant wished to extract the ball without delay. Mr 
Barton, howerer, insisted on being taken in a sail 



boat on board the frigate Constitution, inetead of 
going to the Shark, which he could have reached 
as readily, and to which ho belonged. I was 
then absent from my ship. The first 1 eulenant, 
yielding to the represent^itions of L)r UoyJ, had 
him hoisted, in a col, out of his sail boat, on to the 
deck of the frigate, a;. d the Surgeon forthwith ex- 
ercised his skill ill v)peraiing upon, adjusting, and 
carefully banilngin<r the injured limb. Alter this 
was completely aiid saii-f.ictorilv done, at the expi- 
ration of about an hou' and a half frnm the reception 
ofPjssi'd Midshipman Barton, into the (Jonslituiion, 
I returned on board, and these events were ini- 
niedidtely reported to me. I ordered that he should 
be taken to bis own vessel: — L)r Uoyd remnn>trat- 
ed on hiK behalf against the removal; I did not 
yield to the remonstrancee, but repeating my order, 
ho was taken to the Shark, withevery ciicumstaiice 
of care, gi-ntlcness and attention which his unfortu- 
nate and painful condiiion required. It is this order 
for his removal, and this order only, that constitut 
es the sum and substance of my alleged cruelty 
and oppression. Lot me, however, divest the case 
of other matters, apparently only introduced into 
it as make-weights, and I will then consider the 
real light in which this order is to be regarded. 

On reaching his vessel, Passed Midshipman 
Barton, in the charge of his fellow olhcers, and 
with medical attendance, was placed in his own 
apartment. His wound was unquestionably severe 
and distressing, but from l)r Boyd and Dr Egbert, 
he experienced every possible profo-sional aid and 
alleviation: so much so, indeed that in the short 
spare oi three dnyt. Dr. Boyd, who had so sirenu- 
ously opposed his beinyf taken from the (Constitu- 
tion, proposed that he should be carried from the 
Shark to the shore; n proposition to which I gave 
my ready a-s nf, directing comfortable quarters to 
be obtained for him, and ordering all the facilities 
for his conveyance which could suggest themselves 
either to my own mind or that of the physician. 
His lolfriiigs, selected by others, were reported to 
me, and have been proved to you, as in every re- 
sp(!Ct unexceptionable; he was visited by his com- 
panions; he was faithfully nursed; and when at the 
expiration of about four weeks, tha course of duty 
required the American --hips of war to leave that 
harbour, on the .5ih of January, 183G, ho was in the 
language of Ui Boyd's letter lo his father, Dr Wil- 
liam 1'. C Barton, "cloin^r -well in every respect,'^ 
anil "/••// in Smurna at hia oian rftjusst." Before 
sailing I direc ed the Purser of the Shark, Mr 
Fauntleroy to make adequate pecuniary arrangsf 
ments for his miimenance snd coinl'ort. That gen- 
tleman in exeiMition of my orders give h m an ad- 
vance of three monihs pav.and add'essed a note to 
Mrl>avid Ollliey, then our Consul, eiigaijincf lo 
honor his dinlts at tho rate of his legal C'>m- 
pensatii)n. or $7.5 ) per annum if ho re- 
mained ill after the first of April following. 
It is very possible that this note might have been 
accompanied by mere solemnities of form: — ha I 
either the Purser,or Passed miilshipman Barton, or 
any one else deemed it insecure at the time, it could 
have been moulded to meet all poisible contingeri- 
gences. It was, however, an act of the Purser's 
own, by which he doubtless conceived himself car- 



20 



rying into full effect the purposes I hail indicated, 
giving, in case of necessity, to Passed midshipman 
Baiton, complete command over his entire pay. 
It is vforthy of remark that this young gen leman, 
in the course of his excited lestimonw, could not 
avoid the admission, that had this money arranur- 
ment been met as it was meant by Purser Fauntle- 
roy, and understood by hiratelf, it would have been 
all sulficient. The reason of Us failure may now 
be considered buried in the same grave with one 
vvho maintained during a long public service as 
American Consul at Smyrna, a high ai:d universal 
]y appreciated character for hospitality, amiability 
and worth. 

Passed Midshipman Barton remained disabled, 
and necessarily unhappy at ymyrna, for nearly six 
months beyond tlie period to which his pay had 
bsen advanced, and the "bill of credit" which Mr. 
Fauntleroy designed for his permanent relief pro- 
ved unproductive. During this time I was in 
active movement with the squadron. Certainly I 
had hoped from the promising condition of his 
wound in January, that he might regain the iShark 
in the course of the Wpring, or Sumirier;and in Au- 
gust, while writing to Mr David Ofiiy, the olScial 
representative of our government at Smyrna, 1 ob- 
served Vv'ith as much precision as could have cha- 
racterised a direct order, that, *'sAsji/(i J]Ir. Barton 
be in a state to join his vessel, he can meet her at 
Malta earh) in October." This was immediately 
and formally communicated to him; but contrary to 
the suggestion of .Mr. Oftisy, he preferred a direct 
return to the United States, and embarking on 
board of a small private schooner in the month of 
September, reached home before the year expired, 
during which his duel had withdrawn him from 
the duties of the service. 

Unreflecting, unwarrantable, and perverse as his 
been his conduct in the unremitting effort to make 
his commanding officer answerable for pains and 
privations which were the unavoidable conse- 
quence of his own wilful disobedience, and which 
he should have had the manliness to recognise and 
the fortitude to bear as the very penalties which 
his spirit braved in the combat with Passed Mid- 
shipman Wood, I do not think it necessary for 
my vindication to make one of the very many com- 
ments that might be madd on the inconsistent fol- 
lies of his deportment at Smyrna and since. Let 
them be regarded and forgotten as the natural otT- 
shoots oi' physical suffering and mental anxiety. It 
can indeed be ascribed to nothing but personal, 
and I trust transient peculiarities of behaviour and 
temper, that in a city where Americans have long 
been favorites, to which our naval and commercial 
marine is constantly resorting, where the mild and 
beneficent nature of our government is well under- 
stood, in which such a man as Mr. David OOicy 
was the guardian, advLser, and friend of every dis- 
tressed countryman, and especially of Mr. Bar- 
ton, and where another of our fellow citizens, Mr. 
Stith, was almost equally distinguished, he should 
have experienced embarrassment or mortifiation of 
any kind. Be this, however, as it may, 1 had left 
him as I supposed, as the Purser supposed, and as 
ho himself supposed, amply provided against the 
future: — the unforseen, and to me, to this diy, 



inexplicable ce.=sation of his resources I was never 
diiectly apprised of. 'Phe briefest note confided for 
transmission to Mr. Oflley would undoubtedly have 
soon reached me at one port or another; but that 
he confesses was not written; ami, thus because 
busily occupied in cruising, attentive to the public 
objects of iny command, and kept totally uninfor- 
med of the strtiits into which the private means of 
Passed Midshipman Barton were unexpectedly 
thrown, in a distant quarter of the Mediterranean, 
I am grively arraigned for barbarous usage and 
'•'ca ting' him off" upon the '■'q'enerositif and char~ 
ify of strangersl" Gentlemen you must excuse 
me for saying that the accusation has been too 
clearly disproved to be now esteemed other than 
preposterous. 

Let me go back, then, to the only pointt on 
which the slightest stress can possibly be laid, the 
mere order that he should be removed from the 
Constitution to his own vessel, the Shark. 

I shall not pause to press upon the discriminating 
notice of this Court the elaborated declamation 
with which the second specification on this subject 
is ingeniously swollen — it is probably what Dr 
Woodworth's downright and sterling candor 
would denominate 'figurative expression:" but, 
why, except as a rhetorical artifice it is introduced 
at all, I cannot comprehend. Surely il was un- 
necessary to blazon the pistol or gun-shot wound, 
to set forth the slinging in a cot, the array of the 
suro-ein, his operations, and the pain he inflicted 
— the lowering over the side of the frigate, the 
hoisting over the side of the schooner, and then 
lowering down the hatch head foremost, with the 
accom[)animents of excruciating pain, torture,and 
agony. I neither fractured the tibia transversely 
nor splintered it into Iragments; I knew nothing 
whatever of the details of the injuty, and had strong 
reason to believe, as a short time proved, that Dr, 
Boyd's feelings exaggerated the d.^nger; and I look 
no part in the arrangement or process to effec- 
tuate the removal, leaving it exclusively to 
the care and supervision of the medical otficers 
and others by whom it was conducted with 
acknowledged gentleness and scrupulous kind- 
ness towards the wounded man. 

We may all imagine the acute pangs of a wound 
like that given by Passed Midshipman Wood — 
they are the terrible consequences to which the un- 
fortunate party in a duel voluntarily exposes him- 
self — they will extort from the hardiest and stern- 
est their natural sighs, and groans, and screams — 
but give them to their true and obvious cause- — 
give them to the fight and the fracture, to the skill 
of the adversary or the chances of battle, and do 
not, in momentary and unjust irritation, ascribe 
them to him whose order, whether it were for re^ 
moval from the deck to the steerage of the Consti- 
tution, or to the steerage of the shark, must neces- 
sarily, however brief tlie space or mild the move- 
ment, partially disturb and afflict. 

I owe it, gentlemen, to myself to say, that had I 
adopted the alarms of Dr Boyd — had I not put 
those alarms to a test which they did not stand, 
and which convinced me that they were in a mea- 
sure feigned — I might have hesitated about the or^ 
dcr of removal. Nay, I will go further, and fiankly 



21 



nay, that had the gloomy apprphcnsiono of Dr i 
UoyJ been realized in the Iors of I'as-ed Midsliiji. 
man Uartori'a liiub, I might have lasliiigly regret- I 
Ifil not having compromised with my sironij st^nse j 
of duty, and sacrificed my own judgmuni to ihe I 
jiorsun-ions of others, lint when in a few days Ur 
Hoyd himself seemed relieved from all soliciiude, 
and now that we Ixhold thia young gentleman in 
the full possession of his suoiiijlh, suppleness, atui 
fair proportions, I ran fiel no other sentiment hut 
that of appriiving pr'de in tde rrcolleclion of having 
firaily persevered in doing what my conscience 
BUHgeslfd to be right. 

It IS cxccedinjly easy to apply, with plausibility 
to almost any militaiy order, the epithets "ciuel" 
ani •'oppressive." II. )w many of them would real- 
ly be so if tliey did not emanate from the ol)li;ra. 
tions of duiyl When, however, their source is Ira- 
ceil to thit — when individual malice is not merely 
not alTirmed but incontestibly negatived — when 
the injunctions are {)lainly and purely acts of olFi- 
cial jutl^mcnt and responsibility, they should not 
be calumniatid by harsh expletives, no mailer how 
distressing the consequences that flow from them. 
An order which shortens a seamen's allowance to a 
miserable pittance — an order which subjects his 
b^ro back to the lash of a resolute boatswain's male; 
an order which consigns him to hand-culTs and sol- 
iiudi' f()r weeks — an order which sends him amid 
the terrors of the storm to scrutir.ize aloft the shiv- 
ering .tpars or cracking cordage — an order which 
compels him to receive silent and motionless, the 
de^ilh-deaiing viillii'8 of an approaching enemy, is 
readily styled cruel and oppressive, and certainly 
would he so, if uncalled for, wanton and malicious. 
Hut he who withholds such orders on their fitting 
occasions, who shrinks before visionary or sub- 
s antial dangers, and surrenders all power to do 
good by fearinj^ to do harm, whatever may be bis 
other virtues, hud, at least, better for his country 
and himself, never assume the command of an 
American frigate. 

1 1 is a matter of perfect notoriety that ever 
since the memorable and melancholy duel in which 
1-ieut. Charles G. Hunter, and several other naval 
otlicers ri<.;ured in this city, in the year 1831, tho 
government, obeying an overwhelming popular 
impulse, has sought to discourage the practice. As 
Commander of the Mediterranean tSijnadron, what- 
ever might be my personal o|iinions, I could not 
bo insensitilo to tho strong exhortations I received 
U|)on the subject, nor could I liil to recollect that 
ns the deadliest ty pe of " f/i;(irrf///7i^," it is ex- 
pressly prohibiied by one of the very articles under 
the force of whose phrascoluyy I am now myself 
arraigned. iNeiliicr had I huen so deaf nor so 
blind, as not to have heard and seen the deplorable 
extent to which our character as a civilized poople 
had suffered throughout all Europe, among the 
bravest and tho most chivalrous, owing to the reck- 
Ie3«, causeless, useless, and merciless system by 
which our controversies of honor were deter- 
mined. When required to say how Passed .Mid- 
shipman Hartoii should bo treated, I fell the in- 
fluence of these considerations, and of more than 
these. He had Tioiated my positive orders; he h:id 
abandoned hi^ post of duly; he had conducted iiis 



duel with flagrant publicity, and ho had, without 
the slightest warrant or necessity, avoided lh« 
Shark to which he l)elonged, to intrude himself 
ir.to the Constitution signalized by the broad pen- 
dant of the Comm ;iii.ler. 'Vt\e eyes of all 
the great iJuiopeau llculs were aiiracied to my 
ship. It was impossible not to feel and perceive, 
that as the represiniative chief of our nation in 
that quarter and at that moment, my conduct wa* 
to attest the moral sentiment of the .\meiican 
p.'ople, the itficiency of ih'.'ir laws, and Ihe disci- 
pline of their navy. These are ohjucU with which 
pcared not trifle, lor which I have long ri*ked and 
am yet ready to sacrifice my life, and to up- 
hold which, at every hazard, the Comrnander who 
falters is recreant to bis hijjbesl and most sacred 
trusts. 

There was a lime — I advert to it for illustration, 
not lor presumptuous comparison — when the best 
man, take him tor all in all, that has adorned the 
annals of humanity, was branded with the chargs 
of cruelty — when the Urilish press, in its count- 
less forms and ceaseless marches, teemed wiilj 
clamorous invective against the inexorable chief, 
who, deaf even to the prayer which begged a 
soldier's death, sent the accomplished Major Andre, 
as a convicted spy, to an i{.'nominiou9 halter. Pe- 
titions, entreaties, remonstrances, public and pri- 
vate influence, were accumulated in vain; they 
wasted their power, unheeded by him who saw 
the safely of his country in a signal example. 
.\iid who then in America, or who now in the 
world, dare im|)each tho character of that dreadful 
sentence! And yet, where is its justification ex- 
cept in the paramount obligation of patriotic 
duty? 

No! gentlemen, the fundamental principles of 
military action are not to bo (flighted or abandoned. 
I he order for the removal of Mr. Barton to the 
Shark was cruel in no aspect in which it can 
possibly bo viewed compatibly with the evidence. 
Its propriety beame to mc moie palpable at every 
additional moment which the ditleiing opinions of 
others nlforded for reflection. I gave it, and re- 
newed it, as i now approve it, under the profound 
conviction that all the circumstances imperiously 
demanded it fionj ihe Commander of ibo American 
Squadron. 

5. LIEUTENANT CHARLES G. HUNTER. 
[Under this head my remarks will apply without 
more detailed analysis, to the Isl and 2d specili- 
cations of (Jhargo Second.] 
He can have paid but slight attention to the 
American Na»y, who has failed to observe in tho 
ranks of its inlerior officers, an alarming progress 
of insubordination. From whatever causes it 
may arise, the fact is conspicuous and undeniable. 
There m-iy exist some detect in tho i-ystem which 
it would he wise to detect and remedy, or there may 
be required some united and energetic recurrence 
to first and essential principles, in order to arrest 
the mischiefs of novel pretension. We are fast 
losing the compact and steady and solid character 
of former limes. 'J"hc habits and ui-ages which 
prcceJed the war of 1812, are endangered by 
notions and practices that sap the foundation of 
military discipline. Age, experience, length of 



22 



service, rank, commanJ, are all too apt to be deem- 
ed and dealt with as old-fashioned and exploded. 
A hardy and reckless self-sufficiency perpetually 
starts up to confront, controvert, and embroil. As 
I solemnly btlieve that this is ihe spirit which has 
brought me to your bar, and that the complaint of 
Lieut. Charles G. Hunter, idle, friv.ilous and vex- 
atious in every aspect, is one of its most character- 
istic demonstrations, your decision must carry vvith 
it, foi good or evil, an importance ahke permanent 
and general. 

My deportment towards Lieut. Hunter on the 
race-course at Mahon, on the 14ih of April, 1837, 
is charged to have been " provoking and reproach' 
jvW It is often, gentlemen, very "provoking''' to 
be manifestly in the wrong, and no reproof is so 
galling as the one which is deserved. When 
Lieut. Hunter, excited as he confesses by the race, 
loudly and impetuously contradicted the assertion 
of his brother officer, — when he repeated with an 
oath hi« contradiction — and when, as if to remove 
all doubt of his inflamed feelings, he proclaimed 
bis readiness to say it as well elsewhere and at 
any time, as then and there, who that heard his 
vehemence, his imprecation, his unequivocal de- 
fiance, could avoid fearing that without prompt 
and authoritative interference, he would rashly for- 
get what was due to his country, her uniform, and 
her character, as he seemed already to have for- 
gotten himself. Here were two young gentlemen 
of my Squadron, on the eve of reaching that point 
of personal altercation, at which another advance 
between men of irascible caurage becomes irrevo- 
cable: — who were surrounded by some thousands 
of strangers, amongst thera General Obregon, the 
Governor of the Island, and groups of military or 
civil representative agents from all parts of Europe: 
who by a single additional false step or hot word, 
might convert a scene of amusement into one of 
turbulence, mortification and shame — who were in 
the presence and within the hearing of their naval 
chiel; and yet that chief is seriously arraigned lor 
suddenly and effectually enforcing silei ce, for 
suddenly and effectually doing that which his 
omitting to do would have shown him to be un- 
woithy of his station and trust ! 

At the distance of eight or ton or tvvslve feet, with 
n crowd of persons interposed between myself and 
him, necessarily preventing my rapidly reachi-ig him 
for softer remonstrance, I Cilied to L'eut. Hunter, ab 
ruptly if you will, hastily if you will, loudly if you 
W'ill, to "be silent, an'l not to separate tlie gentleman 
from the ofiii er." I was mounted — I held in my 
hand the small slick customarily used as a substitute 
for the spur — I stretched forth my arm as well to in- 
dicate with certainty which of the I ieutenants Hun- 
ter, (for they ftoo were ihe disputants) I addressed, as 
to give impressiveness lo my languasje: — and h )w was 
I answered? — by the immediate acquiescence and 
composure which the occasion demanded? No! siys 
my accuser himself, 1 turned round to ray command- 
ing officer, and in the face of thousands, conspicuous 
an he was, advjnced towards him and "repelled" the 
charge "/irniZy.'" No! says Lieut. Rhodes, he repelled 
the charge '■positively'' with the same unaltered man- 
ner m which he had spiken to Lieut. Bushrod W. 
Hunter! No! says Lieut. Davis, he repelled the charge 
'•forhearingly!" No! says Lieut. Johnston, he repelled 
the charge "quite respeclfuUy under the circumstan 
ces!'' I replied to him that his attitude, words, tone, 
and manner towards myself were a repetition of the 



very thing he was disclaiming — "von are doing it 
now, sir!" — but the spirit of tieival was up and rue — 
the spirit which the poor sailor cannot fie mistered 
b/ ior an instant without imurrins a mutineer's pen- 
ally, and I was again met with a flat contrailiction — 
"1 AM NOT, Sir!" I peremptorily ordered him to his 
vessel, and then he obeyed. 

Gentlemen, in this short scene you have vividiv 
depicted, as in Ihe presence of each other, the oppo.'- 
ing principles of action now struggling for ascen(lan- 
cy in the Navy of the Unitrd Saies. Lieutenants 
Chirles G Hunter, Davis, Rhodes and Johnston, for 
whom, as individunl gentlemen, I enturtain not the 
shadow of ill-will, and as to whom, if energeiically 
arresied in their suii^idal course of repugnance to 
control and discipline, I might foresee the highest 
honors and purest rewards of their profe sion — have 
unfolded, in a way not to be mi3tak'>n. the OBUcerous 
disease which is eating out the strength and vitality 
of the corps. It is not my cause alone that I am ad- 
vocating — it is that of the proud flag, whose stars can 
never be dimmed while we remain true to ihe exam- 
ples and lessons of the past — it is that of the country 
which looks to our cemented force for glory and pro- 
tection — it is that of my accusers themselves, who 
have only to keep down their feverish impatience, 
to abide their time, in order to enjoy the fruit of pro- 
motion — a fruit unattainable excijpc through prolong- 
ed subordination, and at last, turni.ig to ashes, unen- 
viable and distasteful without it. 

6. CHAPLAIN THOMAS R. LAMBERT. 
Under this head my remarks will apply, without 
more detailed analysis, lo the Ist and ^d specifica- 
tions of Charge the Eighth.] 

Whde at anchor with the C'onstitution and Shark 
in the harbour of Snda, in the island of Candia, on 
the 28th of July, 1837, I addresst'd the Rev. Thomas 
R. Lambsrt the following note: — "Sir. as you were re- 
ceived on board this shqi for temporary sprviie, and 
as the squadrrjn may avail itself o( the advant g- s of 
your spiritual insirnclions, you will please repair on 
"b lard the United Statns schr Sh rk, and report for 
duty, until you mpet vvnh the frigate United States, 
to which vessel you were origin illy attaclieiJ. I am 
induced to this transfer in tne wish that tha squad- 
ron in these seas mny sharo equally the aid which, as 
Chaplam in the Navy, you may render our service 
abroad." 

This order was handed to Mr. f ambert, while at 
dinner in the VVard-roim, either shortly before, or 
shortly after, 3 o'clock- — ai d was comformable to a 
suggestion I ha 1 made in the course of the morning 
to Lieut. Pearson, ihen in command of the Sfiark. 

During that whole day, the communication lietween 
the two vessels was constant — thev lay in sight, 
though apart about ihree miles — provisions, in consi- 
derat)le quantities, were sunt from one lo tha other 
— and officers and seamen were coming and going 
without inierriiption or ditueuliy of any sort, i'here 
were at that time on board of the Constitution, as 
travellers, whom I was speetially directed to receive, 
His Excellency Lewis Cass, ihe ladies of his lamily, 
aad some of his diplomatic suiie. 

Mr. Lambert made his preparations for departure: 
and the gi? of the Shark, the same commodious, 
well-conditioned and well-manned boat in which 
Lieut. Pearson had twice come to the frigate and 
twice left her, was waiting at the side to convey 
him. In tlie mean while, the expediency of getting 
under weigh, and of stretching through ihe mouth of 
the harbour, before night, had occurred to me, and 
suitable directions were given. That amiable, as 
well as discerning and judicious officer, Lieut. Har- 
wood, was on duty on deck — Lieut. Watson was sta- 
tioned o« the forecastle— the American Minister and 
his Secretary took leave of Mr. Lambert— his com- 
panions, collecting at the gangway, did the same; and 
he shoved off from the Constitution at about 5, or half 



23 



pasi 5 o'clock in tlie aft-^rnoon. Not a human boiog 
oJ all who wilneesed iho proceeding, eiiiurtamed or 
expresMCil tlie rtMnotest auspicioii. ihul the siinhtenl 
<ii inijer lurked in uny one circumstance of isea, wind, 
aKiff'iir nky. Thou.h incuinberod liy hif unusually 
largt! und heavy rtu-sl, iniurfcriMg smiIi Iilt (oiuein- 
ont muiiu[;eineiu, unJ Hubjociinjj thuBO in ht-r to oc- 
caKional splashcH ol vvaicr, ihe lx»at hure hiiii ttafcly, 
tliiingh lurdily. to llie Sihark; and on ihe loiUnving 
morning I rfceixrd b, ieiter ilie very (irsl iiilmiuiiDn nl 
LiH ilihcoiitent vv.lii ei:her hi-, tranmcr or ilu im idtiita 
fSu<h are Ihe ficts — ihe whole of the facU — iipoM 
whn h hive h'.'en Irain'-d two spccificalions of •un- 
lt<<iiniriq anil uni<Jfi.cerlik<i conduct!" 

There is a class of men whose calling, indepen- 
dcnl of any nthcr coiih tieralion, claims (or them a 
scrupulous respect. I admit the claim, broadly and 
unreservedly: — und shall wilhlidd erery slnclure, 
liowever obvious, by which it might even seem to be 
forgoUen. 

Uiit. gentlemen, do you think it quite reasonable, 
or (juito fair, thai tho lirstof the tAo Mpocilicalinim, 
f.iiiuiled exclusively upon mv ('llici il note, stiould al- 
lege that Its civilny was •'false prclenct," and its oh- 
jiicl ••pnvitte pique]" I am Utterly unaware that a 
parti le of prool, beyond the fiKO of the note iti^elf, 
has b(;en adduced to sustain tho allegation; und 
Iliou^'h like other complimentary formularies, ihot-iii- 
cerity of my language migrii bij doubled by a modest 
recip eiit, yet the possibil.iy of lis real truth should 
rcscuo It Iro.n 8(1 h irsli an iiiterpre'alion. However 
p'liite I rnighi feel myself authir.sod, if not bound, 
to be towcnls Mr Lambert* nothing required a resort 
ti> degenerate hypocrisy. His transfer could have 
been as brief and trenchant as that of jMidshipman 
Muse or Midshipman Jtmggold. Its milder aspect is 
easily refi'rred tiits true cau-e, and tan readily bo 
oppreciited. And is it more reasonable, or more fair, 
lifter ihe (dear a::d consistent course of testimony 
v\- lich >ou have ln-ard respet-ting this transaction, 
that I frhiMi^d he said in the second specificiiion, to 
have '•ohllgei" hini to leave ihe bhip, 'while under 
way," '-in a sniM bout." ' un'iict'ssarili/ and impro- 
ji T i/cxpu.'ing kis lieidthand .sa/elij?" Certainly the 
ordJr he obeyed emanated Ir^ni me: — assureoly it 
was an order revoca'ile by m : — but did Mr Lam- 
bert, dire'lly or indirecily, apprise me of his reluc- 
tance to change his quarter*? Did he intimate to ihe 
ollicer of the ricck that ihc arrangements for his leav- 
ing inc Irigaie were unsaii.-lactor)? Uid it occur to 
LieiiltTiant Ilarwood, or to any other of his numer- 
ous anil ardent friends, that additional menns lor his 
security and comfort in his iraiisil to the Shirkshould 
or could be pmviiled? And how is it tint 1 can pos- 
sibly bo answerable, not merely for the oversights 
and neglects of ih')se within whose province of duty 
all the details of cxeriiiion lay, t^ut also for every tri- 
fling aicident whi'h tiie ciimtioraoine character of his 
luggage or the hurry of the momenl produced? I do 
not ihnik there is a ju^t measure of christian charily 
extended to me in these nspecls: — and it is lo be 
feared that the rcvcri'iid coinplainaiit has unconsci- 
ously and without appropriate soir-exainination, per- 
mitted something — I know not what— uni onnected 
with ihe stated accusalions and nnrevcaled in the 
evidence, to rankle in his bosom, embi ter his senii- 
ments, and wnrp his judgment. God grant neverthe- 
less, gentlemen, that on a stricter review of his acts 
and motives, in the tenacious and protracted pursuit, 
of his fellow man, upon which he entered three years 
ago, as 10 matters so utterly unimporiant, ho miy be 
able to obtain hts own forgivenesa at unqualifiedly 
as I accord him mine. 

Vn. EXTRA-PUNISHMENT. 
Under this head my remarks will apply to the Ist 

2d, and 3d specifirations of (i^hargo Fifih. 

It may be consniored, Mr President, as among tho 
most curious and clo<iuent trails of thia prosecution, 



that although I have been charged with cruelly and 
opprtasion, und glowingly delineated as a malignant 
tyrant— al.houi^h the wide range of a four years* 
cruise lias been thrown open to be hunted fty kren- 
seemed and banded pursuers — yei but three, aye, 
ihreo only, paliry inlln lions of alleged illegal puinsn- 
ment, up<in as niariy out of the thousand scBinen ia 
my squadron, lire even pretended lobe direcily or in- 
directly imputable 10 me. Am I nusiaken when I 
say to the expcriCMced captains whom i adclr^ss, that 
in practice »ui h departurvs from ihe exact words of 
naval regulations, few oiid far between, and »priog- 
ihg Iroiii peculiar and iriiibient ciicunntianeeH, are 
unworthy of their aiteniionf Am J misiakcn w hen I 
assort that they coii'tiiuie. If nJmiiied to be proved, 
not the shadow ol a foundation ujMin which my coun- 
Vry or my governiiientcan discriminale in iisjinlgment 
between myself and my predecestors in coramaHd? If 
11 has lieen intended by their inlroduclion among tho 
ch'irgcs to appeal to. and arouse against me, ihe pop- 
ular reptignaii'o locornornl piini^hinent, in any sense 
or to the smallest exioiit. let me foil so illegiiimale ait 
aim by remarking licit not a solitary one of my crew 
has here, or elsewhere, or ever, taxed me with harsh- 
ness or severity — that ihe accusation comes from 
those very inlerior olllcers who are, by iheir own 
avowed and covert prac ices, least excusable in nak- 
ing It — and that to no liody of men on earth would I 
more confidently submit ihe decision as to my habit- 
ual lenity and lawfulneiss of correction, than lo the 
host of American mariners whom it has been my 
lot. tlirouahout a career of untiring activity, to dis- 
cipline and govern. 

The three men said each to have received two 
dozen lashes, in-^tead of tho authorised one doxen, 
were Erancisco Lasano, Richard Lascellex, and Da- 
vid Floyd. The two first were naiivcs of the Island 
of Minorca, were accustomed to ship for the t^horl 
rruisos pertormed up the Mediterranean from Mahoa 
and back, and to bo employed on board tho frigate U. 
States as tht; servants of Ijiotitenanis Hunter and Da- 
vis; the other on board the !^li:irk, also as a servant. 
Tlie.sa Mahonese, always unruly and quarrel-'ome, 
on one occasion, while on shore, attacked the hospi- 
tal s;ew:ird, boat him with as iiiile mercy as mnnli- 
nes5, and leit him dangerously wounited in the head. 
The yiolice of the lown, exaspprated by their mis- 
conduct, appealed to me for their punuhmciit, and I 
sent word to Capiain Wilkinson <if tlie United Slates, 
anil C> plain Pearson of the Shark, to have them 
whipped and dbmissed the service. This was done, 
as I prcs'irnod, in the usual manner, and without any 
other than ihe ordimry results. 

David Floyd was an Americnn seaman, who. dur- 
ng my a!)3eni;e frjin the ship, being giiiliy of riotous 
and mutinous behavior, was ordered by Captain Bo- 
raein to be piinished wiih two dozen lashes. Lieu- 
tenant Harwood interposed, h;id h:ni remanded, and 
deeming tho oll'ence more than commonly serious, re- 
solved that he should be formally tried bv a Court 
Martial, to which he proposed preferring ilio proper 
charges. The neces.^ary result of such a proceed. nj 
would have baen.as the Hook of Pumslimeni can al- 
test, and this Court well knows, the iallicDon of sev- 
enty-five or a hundred liishei), by judicial sentence.— 
While the matter was thus pending, I returned to 
Bcyroot, where the frigate laid, and on receiving from 
Captain Boracm the assurance Ihal Floyd was an ex- 
cellent hand, and that his culpability wag the conse- 
qiiencc of an only and occsmunal irregularity, I 
thought it belter to rescue him from his otherwise an- 
avoidable fate, without at the same time sanctioning 
a bad example, and advised that he should be pun« 
ished as originally directed, and restored to his duty. 
My advice wa.s adopted, and perhaps no one under- 
stood better than did David P'loyd, what he had es- 
caped by my intervention. 
j 1 have reviewed these three cases upon the prc- 
' suropiion of my being legally answerable for thcra, 



24 



but that might well be controverted both in law and 
in fact. Captain Boraem, as flag captain of the Con- 
stitution, with the entire ditcretion vested in his 
hands, had himself determined upon the quantum of 
punishment in Floyd's rase— it was neither altered 
nor witnessed by me. Captains Wilkmson and Pear- 
son, with precisely the same power in reference to 
the frigate United Slates and schooner Sturk, can 
alone, in stricmess, be held responsible for "the whole 
conduct and good government" of their respective 
vessels. Neither ot them, on the receipt of a mes- 
sage from me ihiough Lieutenant Totten or Midship- 
man Maffit, respecting Lasano and Lascelles, sent to 
myself to ascertain whether it was inadvertently 
given or misiakingly delivered, and it is impos- 
sible not to see how easily, either in tiie issHing or 
transmission of the order in that particular case, a 
mistake may have occurred by the mere insertion or 
omission ol one siiort word. Had 1 direr ted Liou- 
ienant Toiten that the otf'-nders, the two Mahonese 
servants, should receive two dozen Inshes, the impli- 
tion would naturally and legally corifonn to the re- 
gulation — its nnlawfiilness arises by superadding tha 
monosyllable •'each." On both the culptiis the cor- 
rection was "inJUcled," with the authority and in the 
actual presence of their own immediate commanding 
oflieeri. 



Gentlemen, my defence, necessarily extended to a 
tedious length, is now clusftd. I have piirpisely 
avoided several topics which, though really uncon- 
nected with my own innocence or guilt, may possi- 
bly be esteemed enUlled to noiice. The coj^ious ma- 



terials on your recorl with whichi might overwhelm- 
ingly have retaliated tipon my detractors, remain 
scarcely touched Think you I could not have de- 
veloped a carefully concocted and closely veiled 
system of persecution? Think you I have been blind 
and insensiblo to the extraordinary incidents which 
preceded my being arraigned in person at your bar? 
Think you I do not feel with what resistless force the 
conduct of the chief prosecuting witnesses armed 
me, especidlly by their wanton, merciless, and abor- 
tive nttack upnn a virtuous, intelligent, plain, and 
unoffending citizen, whose grand demerit seemed al- 
ter all to consist in the mildne.«is of his manners, and 
his lack of epaulette or tinsel? But I forbore, and 
still forbear, under an inextinguishable and zealous 
altachmenl to our noble service. For that my pow- 
ers of endurance are exhausiles?, rry readiness to 
make any sacrifice constant and unabated. Uphold 
that, gentlemen, vigorously, sternly, uncompromisine- 
ly, and I am content. Let not iis yet glittering escut- 
cheon be dimmed and sullied by a deed of dark pre- 
judice or foul injustice — let not its true and tranquil 
honor be displaeed by a ei nnterleit and clamorous 
siibsiitute — let not the solid fruits of tried and triiim- 
ph.int discipline be exchanged for the vapid promises 
of new principles of order and of action — let the Na- 
vy of the United States remain uishakenat its base, 
retting firmly on its past and settled usages, adorned 
by the fadeless laurels of its founders, living ordead, 
and lifliiig its done column to the confiding gaze of s, 
generous people. Act thus— as act thus you will — 
and I am fearless of your jiKlgmcnt ! 

JESSE DUNCAN ELLIOTT. 



25 



We have been obligingly favoured with a number of original letters address- 
ed to Coniinodoie Elliott, by the Pre.sidenfb of our leading Seminaries of learn- 
ing, and by other persons, acknowledging the receipt of interesting and valuable 
donations of coins, anli(iues, medals, «S:c., which were brought from the Medi- 
terranean on board the Constitution, at the close of tiie cruize so recently and 
thoroughly investigated. It apiK-ars to us mere justice, in reference to the 
eharacter and motives of Commodore Elliott, that some of these letters should 
be made public, and we have therefore selected the subjoined us accompaniments 
to his defence. 

We also add a gener:il list of the articles he distril)uted almost ns soon as he 
returned to the United States, and a statement of the manner in which th ani- 
iiiuls he brouglit with iiini have been disposed ol. 



PhiladLlpIiio, NoTcmbcr 5, 1838. 
Sir, — It gives us groat pleasure to perform the 
July assigned to os, of informing you that your 
valuable present to the city of Philadelphia, of an 
ancirnt and beauliful sarcophagus, has been accejit- 
ed and will be disposed of in the manner you pro- 
posed. 

In tendering to you the sincere thanks of Coun- 
cils for having selected the Girard College as the 
depositary of this rare and interesting relic of an- 
cient art, wo beg leave to express our own sense of 
the important and ha|)py ell'octs on the taste and 
refinement of our own Country, produced by the in- 
tro<luction of such objects from abroad. 

V\'o have the honor to be, with great respect, 
your obedient servants, 

W. M. MEREDITH, 

President iSelecl Council. 
WM KAVVLE, 
President Common Council. 

Board of Trustees of the Girard College 
for Orphans, Dec. 17,1838. 
Dear Sir, — I execute a very agreeable duty in 
presenting to you the enclosed copy of a vote of 
thanks adopted at the last meeting of this Board for 
your highly acceptable donation to the College. To 
this testimonial by my colleagues, I beg leave to 
add the expression of my own sense of the enlight- 
ened curiosity which collected so many valuable 
objects, and the very liberal spirit whh which you 
have disposed of them. 

With great respect, yours, 

N. BIDDLE. President. 
Com. Jesse D. Elliott, U. S. Navy, 

Board of Trustees of the Girard College 
for Orphans, Dec. fi, 1838. 
At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the 
Girard College for Orphans, held last evening, it 
was 

Resolved, That the President of this Board be 
requested to tender the thanks of the Board to 
4 



Commodore Eilioit for the articles presented by him 
to the Girard College. 

From the minutes. 

J AS. BAVARD, Secretary. 

Senate Chamber, May 18th, 1839. 

Dear Sir, — In reply to your reijuest of this fore- 
noon, that I would communicate such information 
as I possessed in relation to certain presents mado 
by Commodore Elliott to the Legislature of Penn- 
sylvania, I state — they consist of two paintings in 
oil, the one purporting to be a copy of a likeness of 
Christopher Columbus, and the other of Americu* 
Vcspuccius, fronijOriginals in the Florentine Galle- 
ry of Paintings, together with the figure of an 
American Eagle, carved by an American citizen, ia 
marble from .Alexandria Troas. 

The Senate charged the Joint Committee of the 
State Library with the disposition of these pre- 
sents, and they directed me, as the Chairman of 
that Committee, to place them in the Chamber of 
the Senate, where they now are. 

The pictures are, (judging by the eye,) eighteen 
to twenty inches in length, by twelve to fourteen 
in breadth. They are enclosed in frames of wood, 
kind unknown to me, naturally of a light yellow 
colour, without ornament or even mouldings, and 
coated on the face with varnish. 

The ligure of the Eagle might in my opinion, 
bo enclosed in a box of nine or ten inches square. 

I received ihein from the present Governor of 
the Commonwealth in the state in which they now 
are — that is, not enclosed in a box or envelope of 
any kind. 

I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient 
servant, 

ABM. MILLER, 
Chairman of Joint Committee on the Library. 

HonCALviw Bltthe. 

Sydenham, near Pbiladelphis, 
October 2, 1838. 
My dear Sir, — Reluming last week from Wash 



26 



tngton, I found your favour of the 11th of Sep- 
tember, but it was only yesterday that I received 
the drawings and coins to which it refers. 

I scarcely know how at present to aid the wish 
you cherish for putting our government in posses 
sion of the interesting memorials spoken of in your 
letter as subservient to the Smithsonian Institution. 
It being uncertain when or how that lostiiuiion is 
lobe called into being, the whole depending on the 
future legislation of Congress, I should be at a loss 
under present circumstances what step to take. If 
I might venture a suggestion it would be, that the 
memorials in question be retained until it be seen 
what course Congress seems likely to take, wheUjI 
would at all times be happy to join oihers better 
qualified, and with more opportunities than myself, 
in any efforts that circumstances might render 
practicable to give effect to your very laudable de- 
sign. 

With great respect and esteem, I am yours very 
faiihfally, , 

RICHARD RUSH. 

Treasury Department, March 30, 1839. 
Sir, — 1 have the honor to enclose herewith to 
you a copy of a letter, received this morning, from 
President Lord, of Dartmouth College, returning 
thanks for the donation of ancient coins, which 
your liberality furnished me an opportunity of 
presentmg to that institution in your behalf. 
I am respectfully your obedient servant, 

LEVI WOODBURY. 
Jesse D.Elliott, Esq. 
Captain U. S. Navy, 

Dartmouth College, March 26, 1839. 
To the Hon. Levi Woodbury, 
Secretary cif the Treasury, 
Sir, — It gives ma great pleasure to acknowledge 
the receipt of your favour of December last, which 
arrived in my absence from College, with the ac- 
companying and very acceptable donation of an- 
cient coins for the cabinet of the institution. 

This direction which you have given to the libe- 
rality of Commodore Elliott, is particularly gratify- 
ing in view of recent resolutions of the Trustees to 
increase their historical and other collections. 

With very respectful consideration, I am, dear 
.fiir, your obedieal servant, 

N. LORD, 



Kenyon College, Oct. 2, 1838. 
Dear Sir, — I have just returned from a long ab- 
sence from home, and received your kind favour of 
August 13th, mentioning your having deposited 
with the agent of the Ohio Riil Road Company, 
certain ep :cimens of antiquities for the cabinet of 



this College. I beg you, sir, to receive my cordial 
acknowledgments in behalf of this institution for 
so kind a consideration, and believe me to be, with 
sentiments of high consideration, your obliged 
friend and servant, 

CHAS. P. MC'ILVAINE. 
Commodore J. D. Elliott. 

Antiquarian Hall, 
Worcester, Mass. March 28, 1839. 

Dear Sir, — I have the honor, in behalf of the 
American Antiquarian Society, to express their 
thanks for the present of rare and interestincr coins 
made by you to the society through Governor 
Lincoln. They constitute a valued addition to our 
collection, and like all other matters appertaining 
to our Library, will, so far as practicable, be made 
of public use. The number of coins now in our 
possession is small but select, and those which we 
have the pleasure to receive from you, will not be 
without some companions appropriate to their own 
age and dignity. 

I am sir, very respectfully your obedient ser- 
vant, 

SAML. F. HAVEN, Lib, A. A. S. 

Commodore J, D.Elliott. 

Williams College, Nov. 26, 1838. 
C in. J. D.Elliott, 

Dear Sir, — I have recently received for the be- 
nefit of the Museum of this College fifteen anci- 
ent coins with descriptions, and a fragment of the 
ruins of an aneient city, for which, as I understand 
from Mr. Porter of Boston, we are indebted to 
your liberality and public spirit. It gives me mucb 
pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of this very 
handsome donation and to assure you that the ar- 
ticles shall be so disposed of as to promote the oii- 
jeci for which ihey were given. If any thing could 
add to the popularity of our Navy, I think it would 
be an imitation on the part of its officers of the 
example you have so honourably set of promoting 
the objects of curious and scientific research. 
Most resprcifully yours, 

M. HOPKINS, Prest. of College. 

P, S. The fragment is supposed to be of Mem- 
phis, but no description came with it, 

Jefferson College, Canonsburg, ' 

Jan, 28, 1839. 
Dear Sir — I must beg you to accept an apology 
for not answering sooner your favour of the 8th 
of November last, accompanied with a valuable do- 
nation of coins for the use of the college. The 
coins were presented to the lyceum of the college 
and your generosity noted. I would have imme- 
diately written and acknowledged the receipt of 



27 



the donation, for which we are sincerely grateful, 
but I was at a loss at that titno a;* to the place 
where to direct a let er, whether to Washington 
City or Norfolk. 1 observed your letter dated at 
Carlisle, and have since learned that this is the 
place of the residence of your family. You refer 
to my being a graduate of Carlisle, which suggest- 
ed to my mind the pleasant recollection of my fellow 
students, among whom was a Mr. Elliott, as I be- 
lieve your brother. 

You are kind enough to mention that you hadjat 
Norfolk a marble column brought from Syria, pla- 
ced in the hands of Dr, Miller, subject to our or- 
der. Will you be kind enough to suggest in what 
way we could most convenienely have it trans- 
mitted, as we have no direct communication with 
Norfolk. If it were sent round to Philadelphia, 
we could readily receive it in that direction. We 
have a Lyceum in the College, under its direc- 
tion, containing many valuable collections. Your 
favor will be deposited here and marked to your 
liberality. 

Very respectfully, yours, &c. 

M. BROWN. 

Washington, Pa., Nov. 1.5, ICJS. 

Dear Sir, — I had the pkasurc of receiving your 
favour of last month, kindly and pntriolicaily of- 
fering lo the college here a choice selection of an- 
cient coins. Many things requiring my immedi- 
al-e attention caused me to defer a reply. 

The Trustees aiKl Faculty were immediately 
made acquainted with your proll'er, which was 
thankfully accepted, and I was directed to present 
<o you their thanks. This I did immediately in our 
<own papers. Be pleased to retain ttioCT and we 
will send for them by the earliest opportunity. 

I am with respect and esteem, dear sir, your 
friend and tervant, 

RICHARD HENRY LEE. 

University of Virginia, Sept. 26th, 1838. 
Sir : — Towards the end of August I had the 
gratification to receive your letter of the Gth of 
that month, bestowing on the University the curi- 
ous specimens of antiquity therein nicnlioncd. A 
part of those only has come lo liand, viz: an An- 
iiqnc Vase found in the Channel of Corfu; an Ea- 
frle of Marble from Alexandria of Troas, sculp- 
tured by an American artist ; a fragment from the 
Temple of Jiacchus at ancient Tyre ; a Small Vage 
taken Iroin a Tomb on tlic I:ilaiid of Ccrigo. The 
other two specimens, owing to tiic very great diffi- 
culty which has existed for some time in transport- 
ing packages, especially of any considerable wuight, 
from Kichmond to this place, have not yet been re- 
ceived — we may expect them however in a short 
time. I have tor a very long time delayed ac- 
k(iowIcdgi»g your letter and donation, in hopes 
that the wh6le minfht be mentioned as received — 
but the delay has been so great that I was unwill- 



ing longer to withhold the respectful acknowledge- 
ments which arc due to your liberality, and which 
our feelings require. «, 

I have great pleasure in performing the agreea- 
ble task of conveying to you the thanks of the 
University for the valuable contributions which 
yoii have kindly made to the collection contained 
in our museuin. And I may assure you that the 
remains of antiquity which yon have presented 
to us will not only be preserved on their own ac- 
count, but that they will be continually associated 
with the kindest feelings of regard for the distin- 
guished Naval Commander, to whose liberal 
tastes, and sympathy with the glory and art of 
other days, wc owe them. 

I am, Sir, with considerations of the liighest 
respect, your obedient Servant, 

CESSNER HARRISON, Chairman of Faculty. 



Articles presented by Commodore Elliott, to 

1 . The Girard College ; 

A Roman Sareopliagus, weighing about S.-SOO 
pounds. — A cabinet of gold, silver, and other met- 
allic coins. — Four boxes of Antiquities collected in 
Palestine and Syria. — A limb of one of the cedars 
of Lebanon. 

2. Dickinson College : 

A cabinet of ancient coins. — Other antiquities 
from Palestine and Syria, Corinth, Athens, Crete, 
&,c: 

3. Washington College : 

A collection of ancient coins. 

4. Jefferson College : 

A capital of a column obtained in CtEsaria. 

5. Princeton College : 

A collection of ancient coins. — A specimen of 
the marble from Alexandria Troas,^and Csesaria 
Palestine. 

6. Cambridge College : 

Some specimens of marble from CtesariU Pales- 
tine, and Alexandria Troas. 

7. Williams^ College : 

A capital of a column from Cresaria Palestine. 

8. Dartmouth College : 

A collection of ancient coins. 

9. Kenyan College: 

A collection of coins and a piece of a column 
from Alexandria Troas and Caesaria Palestine. 

10. College in Missouri : 
A collection of coins. 

11. The Transijloania College: 
A collection of ancient coins. 

12. The Medical College at lialiimore : 

A Mummy, disinterred at Memphis, Egjrpt. — A 
curbstone of a well, irom Caesaria Palestine. — .V 
marble sill from the Temple of Minerva on the 
plains of Troy, and a column Irom Ca'saria, Pal- 
estine. 

13. The Charlottesville University; 

Two marble balls obtained at the Dardanelles, 
about eight feet in circumference. — A marble head 
of Bacchus from Tyre, Syria. — A Vase fished up 
at the point where the battle of Acfiiim was fought 
between Ca'sar and Pompey. — A large marble 
column, removed from Alexandria Troas. — An 



28 



Eagle made from a piece of marble removed from John Forsyth, sent to Georgia, to propagate, on 



Minerva Somnes, Greece. 

14. William and Mary College: 
An Ibis. — A column removed from plains of 

Troy. 

15. The Baltimore Cathedral: 

A painting representing the Illumination at St. 
Peter's and St. Angela. 

16. The College at Georgetown : 
Casts of the Popes. 

18. Prospect Hill, N. Carolina : 
A column from Marathon. 

18. The Literary and Philosophical Society at 
Charleston, S. C. 

A collection of ancient coins. 

19. To the Navy Department or Government : 
Two colosal balls from tlie Dardanalles. — A Sar- 
cophagus from Beyroot, Syria. 

20. American Antiquarian Society of Worcester 
Massachusetts : 

A parcel of ancient coins. 

21. The Legislature of Pennsylvania: 

A copy of an original painting of Columbus and 
Vcspuccms. — An Eagle made from marble remov- 
ed from Alexandria Troas. 

The Animals brought home were disposed of as 
follows : 

1. A Jack: — in possession of the Honorable \ 



shares. 

2. A Maltese Jenny: — Sent to Mr. Hubbs' plan- 
tation, Tennessee. 

3. A Jack : — Sent to Elizabeth city, Virginia, to 
propagate, on shares. 

4. A Jack : — Sent to Dauphin county, Pa. to 
Charles Carson and John C. M'Allister — owned 
jointly by Com. Elliott and Thomas B.Jacobs. 

5. A Malta Jack and a large bay Arabian 
Horse : — Sent to James A. Gallagher, to propagate 
in the [Counties of Cumberland, Franklin and 
Dauphin, Pennsylvania, and belonging to Com. 
Elliott. 

6. Three Andalusian Hogs. — Tivo hroad-tailed 
Syrian Sheep — Minorca Chickens, Grain, Grass and 
Garden seeds : — Sent to Mr. T. B. Jacobs, Lancas- 
ter county, Penn. 

7. One Minorca Jack: — Sent to propagate in 
Lancaster county, Penn'a., and belonging to Com. 
Elliott and T. B. Jacobs. 

8. One Superior Arabian Mare : — Presented to 
Mrs. Jacobs. 

9. Four Arabian Mares, One Andalusian' and 
Three Arabian Colts : — Sent to Mr. John T. Barr, 
State of Missouri, belonging to Com. Elliott, and 
propagating on shares. 



Publiahed by MIFFLIN & PARRY, No. 99 South Second Street, Philada, 



W 73 ! 



0->x 






■\/' 




% 






• IT • 4- 











**'% 





























'*&* V*^^?5^'<^ <^'-'-^''J^ V'^^?^^'^ 






.♦0 ^ * 
»^ ♦ •', t • aO '^ ' • ■ • 





































• " • • ''n A* . " • 

•I* ♦ 






!.*'%. 









'V''*^^\.?>'«'^ '\***''**%°'^ v**t.o'\^'^ *\**' 



•-^^^" •' 






